


The Language of Flowers

by diamondbaek



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-06 20:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13419354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondbaek/pseuds/diamondbaek
Summary: Prompt #170Title: The Language of FlowersRating: PG-13Word Count: 28, 964Warnings: NoneSummary:Every night Baekhyun tries to annoy his overly nice neighbor, Jongdae, by making good use of the thin walls separating them. Every morning however, he is greeted by Jongdae's warm beautiful smile instead. Baekhyun is no longer sure what to do when his heart starts beating loudly for his neighbor, unfortunately clueless Jongdae can't hear Baekhyun's heart beating for him.





	The Language of Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: Hi~ I enjoyed writing this fic a lot and it took me a long time because I kept putting it off, it's a miracle I even finished it haha. I'm sorry for any typos and grammar mistakes (I'm sure there are many). Please give it lots of love and leave constructive criticism in the comments to allow me to do better next time, thanks!

It was well into the afternoon, a soft, cold breeze coming from the window to his right, the sound of cars whooshing by could be heard from below and Baekhyun was enjoying his life like he always was. 

“Baekhyun, will you stop screaming, the neighbors might hear,” Kyungsoo chided, hitting him upside the head. 

It was a Saturday and Baekhyun spent it in the way he always spent his weekends whenever he didn’t have anything in particular to do.

Playing games. 

The only difference this week was that Kyungsoo had decided to drop by and chill on his couch. But with Kyungsoo came restrictions and responsibilities; such as staying quiet and eating an actual meal. 

“But I’m losing,” Baekhyun whined, his fingers frantically flying around his keyboard, trying in vain not to die again. 

“What’s new,” Kyungsoo muttered before settling himself down on the couch and opening up his book. “You always lose.”

“Besides, I wouldn’t mind if my neighbor hears,” Baekhyun said, ignoring Kyungsoo’s comment. “That guy next-door pisses me off.” 

Kyungsoo hummed, feigning interest as he flipped through the pages of his book to look for where he had stopped. “And why does he piss you off?”

It took Baekhyun a few minutes to answer, too preoccupied with his game to focus on anything else. The sudden noise of fingers slamming on the keyboard and furiously clicking the mouse filled the room. Kyungsoo didn’t mind; he was too preoccupied with what he was reading anyway. 

After his game had calmed down and he could breathe enough to talk, more than a few minutes later, Baekhyun answered. 

“Every morning, we see each other, either out in the hall or down there in the lobby, I always wait for him to chide me or scold me for being too noisy at night but he doesn’t,” Baekhyun exclaims, exasperated. “He just stands there and smiles like a total idiot.”

Kyungsoo, being totally enamored in his book, almost forgot to respond.

“And that’s a bad thing because?”

“Because,” Baekhyun said, drawing out the word in a whine. “That’s no fun at all. I try to push his buttons and he just smiles at me like I gave him a puppy for Christmas. He just smiles, Soo,” Baekhyun throws a glance over at his friend who didn’t even bother to look up.

“If I was your neighbor, I would’ve requested for your eviction the moment I heard you shouting over a game.” Kyungsoo responded half-heartedly. 

“Exactly!” Baekhyun threw his hands up in exasperation, spinning his chair around to face Kyungsoo. 

His game had ended and the scores were already flashing on the screen. 

“Do you even know his name?” Kyungsoo sighed, looking up from his book grudgingly. 

“I think it was Kim Jongdae or something like that. I’m pretty sure it was a Kim something,” Baekhyun said thoughtfully as he stood up and set his chair back in front of his computer. 

His apartment was fairly small – comfy and perfect for someone who liked staying indoors like he did. A couch, two armchairs, a small coffee table and the television on its own stand filled up the living room.  
His computer, in all its glory, sat to the side of the area, out of the way. He mostly played games on it (he had bought a separate laptop purely for work) and on days such as this, he rarely left his seat even when he needed to eat. 

Kyungsoo hummed again, getting lost in what he was reading and blocking Baekhyun out completely. 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes good-naturedly and headed to the kitchen to find something to eat. He had a rather healthy lunch, thanks to Kyungsoo, but he was feeling quite hungry after a round of killing on the battlefield.

He was looking through his cabinets and was debating between pouring himself a bowl of cereal or cooking ramen when the doorbell rang. 

Baekhyun stuck his head out of his cabinet with a pout, wondering who it could be. Walking over to his door, he asked Kyungsoo as he passed by. 

“I thought Chanyeol wasn’t coming over until much later.”

Kyungsoo shrugged in his seat, turning the page. 

Baekhyun didn’t bother looking through the small peephole on his door, sliding the bolt to the side and swinging the door open without much warning, which explained why the man on the other side stepped back in slight alarm. 

It was his neighbor – the one he was ranting about to Kyungsoo. 

Jongdae blinked at him twice, straightened up and smiled warmly. 

His neighbor, Kim Jongdae, was around the same height as him and had black hair that was currently messy and not styled in any way at all. He wore a black sweater too big for him, the sleeves ending around his fingers, and simple jeans. 

Baekhyun raised his eyebrows in a question once he got over his initial shock of seeing him there. 

“Is it too much to hope that you’re here to finally call me out on being too noisy?” Baekhyun asked. 

Jongdae only tilted his head to the side and chuckled a bit, the smile on his lips emphasizing the way his lips curled upwards at the ends. He shook his head and handed Baekhyun the envelopes he was holding in one hand. 

“Your mail,” Jongdae said as he handed them over. “I brought it up for you.”

The way he talked was slow, as if he wasn’t sure if what he was saying was right but the smile never left his face. Baekhyun wondered if he was somehow nervous.

Baekhyun looked through the envelopes and saw that they were indeed addressed to him. 

“You’re welcome,” Jongdae said with a small laugh before Baekhyun could even respond, unlocking his apartment door and walking in without another glance in Baekhyun’s direction. 

Baekhyun stood out there in the hall, a bit taken aback. Jongdae had never gone out of his way to help Baekhyun out before. 

Sure, he would smile and say a quick ‘hi’ every morning or they’d stand in friendly silence in the elevator going up to their floor whenever they just happened to come home at the same time, but never this.

Baekhyun whirled around, stomping into his apartment with a shout,

“See, this is exactly what I’m talking about!” 

He waved the letters above his head as he shut the door behind him.

 

“So, he brought you your mail, big deal,” Chanyeol said through a mouth full of noodles. “It’s what neighbors do, Baek.”

“No, but you don’t understand, I never would’ve brought him his.” Baekhyun played with his own noodles with his chopsticks, moving it from side to side. 

“Maybe he’s just too nice to tell you that you’re being too noisy at night and that he’s trying to guilt-trip you to shut up by doing nice things,” Kyungsoo smirked at him from the other end of the table. 

Baekhyun pouted. 

“Maybe.”

“Don’t think too much into to it, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol patted him on the back as he stood up to put his bowl in the sink, having already finished his second serving. “I’m sure he was just doing you a small favor. He hasn’t scolded you yet, I doubt he will now.”

Baekhyun just continued eating as his mind whirled. 

Wait. 

Why was he over thinking such a small thing? 

He shook his head in an attempt to shake the thoughts of Kim Jongdae’s bright smile out of his mind. 

Kyungsoo shook his head at him in amusement before moving to stand up as well. 

Baekhyun looked up at him, his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. “You done?”

“Yeah. I gotta go home early tonight. Jongin left his key at the apartment; he won’t be able to get in without me.”

“Oh? Get home safely then and say hi to Nini for me,” Baekhyun smiled up at his friend. Kyungsoo smiled back before leaving to put his bowl in the sink.

“You leaving already, Soo?” Baekhyun could hear Chanyeol ask Kyungsoo in the living room. “But I just got here.”

“All the more reason to leave,” Kyungsoo told Chanyeol. Baekhyun could just imagine Chanyeol’s pout and snickered before finishing up his bowl of noodles. 

“I’m off,” Baekhyun heard Kyungsoo call out. “Bye.”

“Bye!” Baekhyun and Chanyeol shouted in unison – Baekhyun in the kitchen, washing the dishes and Chanyeol in the living room, setting up his laptop for a night of gaming with Baekhyun. 

When Baekhyun was done cleaning up, he walked straight to his computer flicking the water on his still damp hands in Chanyeol’s direction, spraying water in his face. 

Chanyeol yelled in protest. 

“Ready to lose?” Baekhyun smirked, settling himself in front of his computer, stretching a bit. 

“You wish.”

 

Baekhyun groaned into the cold, morning air as he rolled over on his bed, running a hand over his face. 

An alarm he didn’t remember setting rung loudly and Baekhyun had to grope all around his sheets, half-asleep, to find his phone. 

He glared at it when he finally found it, wondering why in the hell he would set an alarm so early in the morning on a Sunday. 

He dropped it beside him when he finally managed to turn it off, rolling over to his side and coming face to face with his white wall. There was a single yellow sticky note stuck just above eye level. Squinting, he tried to read the writing on the note he recognized was his messy scrawl. 

And when he finally deciphered what exactly had been important enough that he had to be reminded right as he woke up, he rose and rushed to leave his bed so fast he tripped over his sheets and fell in a heap on the floor. 

He quickly recovered and rushed to open his closet, grabbed the first pair of pants, underwear and shirt he could get his hands on and ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

He was proud of himself for knowing that he might very well forget and that he was smart enough to leave a sticky note right where he could see it. 

Pick up Yixing at the airport, 7:30. 

 

Around 10 minutes later Baekhyun was jogging out of the elevator and into the lobby, scrolling through his phone to look for Yixing’s flight schedule. 

He strolled out of the building and almost walked into Kim Jongdae who seemed to be on his way back from a coffee run, a paper bag in one hand and coffee in the other. 

Once again, his neighbor stepped back in mild shock at the sight of him. Baekhyun did the same and they stood there blinking at each other for a good three seconds before the familiar sight of Jongdae’s smile filled Baekhyun’s gaze. 

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun stammered. “Are you okay?”

Jongdae nodded and stepped to the side to let Baekhyun through. 

“Oh, thank you.” 

Jongdae smiled at him one last time before turning around and continuing on his way. Baekhyun stared after him for a few seconds more before remembering where he had to be. 

He rushed to his car, started it up and drove off. 

 

“How was the flight?” Baekhyun asked Yixing when they finally settled inside Baekhyun’s car, having just finished stuffing Yixing’s luggage in the back. 

Yixing shrugged, smiling. “It was alright. I’m here in one piece, aren’t I?”

“Indeed you are,” Baekhyun returned the smile. 

“Thanks for picking me up. I hope I wasn’t a bother,” Yixing said as he whipped out his phone from his pocket. 

“No problem,” it was Baekhyun’s turn to shrug. “Waking up this early is a bit refreshing.”

“Liar,” Yixing laughed, looking up from his phone. Baekhyun laughed with him.

“Do you have any plans today, Baek?” Yixing asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence as Baekhyun drove and Yixing texted someone on his phone. 

“I have work to finish later this afternoon but any time before that I’m free,” Baekhyun looked at Yixing from the side of his eye. “Why? You treating me to lunch?” 

A mischievous smile stretched across Baekhyun’s face. Yixing chuckled.

“Yeah, actually. I’m meeting this friend later and I’d like it if you two would get to meet. He’s a really close friend of mine.”

“I thought I was your closest friend,” Baekhyun said, pouting before letting out a laugh. “I’m kidding. Sure, why not. You’re staying over at my place tonight, right?”

Yixing nodded. 

“I’ll probably be alternating between staying over at yours and said friend.”

Baekhyun made a small surprised sound. “But wouldn’t that be tiring for you?”

“Oh, don’t worry, it won’t.”

 

“Chanyeol’s asleep on the couch by the way, so if you wanna rest up you can sleep on my bed for now. Wait in the living room for a sec, let me clean it up for a bit,” Baekhyun told Yixing as they entered his apartment. Chanyeol’s soft snoring could be heard from the door.

“Late-night gaming again?” Yixing chuckled, shaking his head. 

Baekhyun chuckled, not even bothering to reply as he kicked off his shoes and rushed to his bedroom to tidy it up.

After a few minutes of throwing dirty clothes in the hamper and replacing his bed sheets, he finally called Yixing inside. Yixing walked in, lugging his suitcase with him and smiled gratefully at Baekhyun.

“You should rest up a bit before this lunch thing,” Baekhyun suggested. Yixing nodded, agreeing with him. 

“Thank you again, Baekhyun.”

“No problem.”

Baekhyun left him there in his room to change up and take a nap, padding over to the kitchen to fix up some breakfast. 

Chanyeol was still sound asleep when Baekhyun moved to the living room, settling his bowl of cereal down on the coffee table and grabbing his laptop from the side. He didn’t bother to stay quiet, knowing full well that it would take more than a little noise to wake up Park Chanyeol. 

Checking his emails, Baekhyun sighed and got to work.

An hour or so later, Chanyeol roused with a groan and a loud yawn, making Baekhyun yawn involuntarily with him. Sitting up with his eyes squinting in the morning light, Chanyeol ruffled his already messy bed-head. 

“Good morning,” Baekhyun greeted mockingly. “Had fun sleeping on the couch?”

Chanyeol glared at him half-heartedly and stood, dragging his feet toward the bathroom. 

“Is Yixing already here?” Chanyeol called out from the hallway, probably spotting Yixing’s suitcase from the slightly open door to Baekhyun’s room. 

“Yes, you idiot. Now, keep your voice down, he’s sleeping.”

Chanyeol walked back to the living room and into the kitchen a few minutes later, a bit more awake after splashing his face with cold water. 

“You never let me sleep on your bed,” Chanyeol grumbled, moving to make himself coffee.

“Why would you want to sleep on my bed when there’s a perfectly good couch right here, Yeol,” Baekhyun said as he continued typing away on his laptop, throwing a wicked grin at Chanyeol before returning his gaze to his work. 

“Sometimes, I really hate your ass, you know that, Baek?”

“And just for that comment, don’t even think about touching my coffee.”

 

A few hours later, he and Yixing sat facing each other in a small and quaint restaurant a few blocks down from the apartment. Chanyeol had gone home to get ready for work before Yixing had even woken up, which made Yixing just a bit pouty at the absence of a greeting.

“Who are we meeting anyway?” Baekhyun finally asked Yixing after he had finished placing his order, putting down his menu down in front of him. Their guest had not yet arrived and Baekhyun found himself enjoying the nice Sunday afternoon with his friend. 

They sat by the glass windows already decorated with a bit of Christmas feel and they watched as people passed them by, going on with their lives. Baekhyun was left to wonder if the next man that would pass by would enter the restaurant they were in and introduce himself. 

“If I’m not mistaken, you two have already met once or twice,” Yixing said, taking a sip of his shake. “It is a small city.”

“There are more than 250,000 people in this city, Xing, I doubt I’ve already met the guy. I rarely leave my apartment.”

“His name is Kim Jongdae and he lives in your building after I suggested it.”

Baekhyun’s eyebrows rose in surprise, tearing his gaze away from the people outside and looking Yixing in the eye. 

“Kim Jongdae? You know him?”

Yixing shrugged but a smirk was forming on his lips. “Yeah.”

“And you suggested he move in to the apartment beside mine, why?”

“I thought he might need a friend like you.”

Baekhyun snorted. “I’m not really what you’d call a good friend to strangers.”

“But you’ve always been a good friend to me,” Yixing insisted.

Baekhyun sighed at his friend’s antics. “I hate to break it to you, Xing, but we’ve barely talked in the months we’ve been neighbors. I doubt I’ve been a very good friend.”

“Really? He talks rather fondly about you.”

Baekhyun flushed. “Does he really?”

Yixing’s smirk grew at the question. 

“I mean,” Baekhyun cleared his throat. “Why would he?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

Baekhyun’s face scrunched up in confusion as he stirred the ice around his glass of juice with his straw.  
“Every night, I shout and scream over a game literally every 3 minutes just to annoy him. I sing at the top of my lungs when I shower and when I cook loud enough that he could hear me easily – but he never got angry.”

Baekhyun huffed. “It’s infuriating. I apologized after that first night but he just smiled and shook his head and went on his way. He’s been responding the same way ever since.”

When Baekhyun looked up again, Yixing was looking at him confusedly. Then his expression shifted to one of realization.

Then he burst out laughing.

“You tried to annoy him by making as much noise as you can?”

“What?” Baekhyun demanded, growing redder by the second, wondering if he somehow now looked desperate. “I just wanted to get a reaction out of him that wasn’t that smile of his.”

Yixing continued laughing, gasping out breaths.

“Only you, Byun Baekhyun, would try to get to know your neighbor better by first getting him to hate you.”

“Why are you laughing?” Baekhyun pouted. “What’s so funny?”

“So, did you just go around your apartment shouting loudly on every opportunity you could just so he’d stomping over to your apartment and have a chat?”

“Yeah?” Baekhyun looked away. “I’m not good at this, okay?”

“Baekhyun,” Yixing sighed out exasperatedly after he finally calmed down enough to talk. “Baekhyun. He’s deaf.”

“What? Who’s deaf?”

“Jongdae is! He’s been deaf since high school.”

“What?”

Baekhyun stared at Yixing in disbelief as he tried to remember every conversation he ever had with his neighbor. 

The day Jongdae moved in, months ago, Baekhyun had just come from his parents’ house; the sun was already setting, casting a beautiful orange hue around the city. He trudged up the stairs to his floor because the elevators weren’t working, much to Baekhyun’s annoyance. 

Panting and out of breath, Baekhyun finally reached his floor only to find a lot of cardboard boxes standing in his way. He craned his neck to read the labels written on the sides – ‘Books’, ‘Pics’, ‘Kitchen Utensils’, they read in a writing unfamiliar to him. 

“Ah,” Baekhyun opened his mouth in understanding, nodding to himself. He remembered the notification he had received from the front desk that someone was moving in. Indeed, the door beside his was open and it sounded like someone was moving around inside. 

Baekhyun would greet them later, for now he just wanted to sit down and rest.

Just as he was tiptoeing over the boxes, careful not to kick or step on anything, a man came striding out of the apartment beside his. 

He stopped abruptly when he noticed Baekhyun though, one of his legs lifted in the air to get over one of the boxes. His neighbor made a surprised sound and hastily bowed in greeting. That day, Baekhyun didn’t know if it was because of the summer heat or because the man was doing heavy lifting but Jongdae wore a tank top that showed off his arms. 

Baekhyun shouldn’t have even noticed his arms, honestly.

“I’m so sorry for the mess,” he had said. “I’ll clear it up right away.”

Baekhyun hopped over the box cleanly, a polite smile stretching across his lips. 

“It’s alright,” he said, waving his hands. “Let me just put down my bag and I’ll be right over to help you settle in.”

“Oh, you don’t have to,” Jongdae had said, a smile already on his face. The smile Baekhyun would soon see every morning. 

The present Baekhyun sat back in his chair, bringing a hand to his mouth and his eyes widening in realization as he looked at Yixing in disbelief.

“Oh, I am so stupid.”

“You are.”

“That thing in his ear that day wasn’t a Bluetooth earphone, was it?”

Yixing looked at him like he was about to burst out laughing again.

“You thought his hearing aids were earphones?”

Before Baekhyun could argue, his face already red from embarrassment, someone approached their table silently. He thought it was the waitress, there to bring them their food but when he looked up with a bright smile, it faltered when it was reciprocated by an apologetic smile from a pair of lips all too familiar to Baekhyun. 

“I’m sorry,” Jongdae said a little bit too loudly. “For being late.”

Baekhyun stood up in haste. 

“Hi,” Baekhyun said, sounding breathless even in to his own ears. Jongdae was wearing a gray coat over a gray hoodie and a smile on his face, no hearing aids to be seen. 

Thankfully Yixing stood up too, saving Baekhyun from the embarrassment of staring at Jongdae longer than he meant to. Jongdae pulled Yixing into a hug, both grinning widely. 

When they pulled away, Yixing began moving his hands in gestures in what could only be sign language. 

“How are you?” Yixing said, moving his hands along to the question. 

The smile that spread across Jongdae’s face was brighter than any Baekhyun had ever seen at the sight of his friend communicating with him in sign language. 

Jongdae began moving his own hands excitedly and Yixing let out a laugh. 

“Wait. Wait, slow down,” Yixing laughed. Jongdae smiled sheepishly and finally turned to Baekhyun again. 

“Uh,” Baekhyun paused, lifting his hand in the air. “Hi.”

“Hi, Baekhyun.” 

It was probably the first time Baekhyun heard his name come from his lips and it made Baekhyun so flustered he looked away, inwardly slapping himself to get himself together.

As they took their seats, Jongdae choosing to sit beside Yixing, directly across from Baekhyun, he handed Jongdae the menu with a tight smile. Jongdae nodded his head gratefully and began looking through it. 

“Are you really deaf?” Baekhyun asked, knowing he sounded rather silly asking a deaf person if he was deaf. Yixing bursting into another fit of laughs was indication enough. 

Jongdae looked up from the menu when he felt Yixing shaking with laughter beside him. He looked between Baekhyun and Yixing curiously, his head cocked to the side to ask why they were laughing. 

“He was asking if you were deaf,” Yixing said as he translated it into sign language. 

Jongdae flushed and met Baekhyun’s eyes before nodding. 

He furrowed his eyebrows as if struggling with something. 

“Oh, are you trying to say something?” Baekhyun asked, leaning forward and readying himself to try his best to understand when he suddenly remembered something. 

He held up a hand, mouthing Wait over to Jongdae before patting his pockets and pulling out a pen.

Jongdae watched him curiously and Yixing smiled in amusement.

“Xing, could you hand me some tissues.”

“I could translate for you, you know,” Yixing said as he grabbed some and handed them over to Baekhyun and Baekhyun began to write on it, careful to be gentle so as to not accidentally tear the tissue paper. 

“I want to try talking to him on my own,” Baekhyun simply said.

_Since I don’t know how to actually communicate with you through sign language yet, I think it’d be better for both of us to write for now._

Baekhyun wrote as Jongdae peeked over. Baekhyun watched as Jongdae’s eyes passed over his writing and he prayed that his handwriting was legible. 

“Yet?” Jongdae asked, pointing at the word in question. 

“Hm?” Baekhyun looked at it then handed Jongdae the pen to hopefully better understand. 

Just then their food arrived on a tray balanced in the waitress’ arms and Yixing had to tap Jongdae on the shoulder and tell him to order. 

Baekhyun separated his food from Yixing’s and organized their table as he waited patiently for Jongdae to finish ordering and reply to his written note. Jongdae barely looked at the menu before pointing out the dishes he wanted and giving the menu back to the waitress with a kind smile. 

He turned back to Baekhyun with the same smile before clicking the pen open and writing back. 

That continued on between them for a few more minutes, waiting for Jongdae’s own food before digging in, Yixing sitting there silently and playing around with his phone.

_Yet? So, you plan on learning sign language?_

_Well, if I want to be able to talk to you, learning sign language would be the most convenient, wouldn’t it?_

Jongdae smiled as he read that and Baekhyun couldn’t help but blush. 

_I’m sorry I haven’t been able to talk to you properly these past months. My hearing aids got destroyed and I haven’t got replacements yet._

_Why did you never tell me that you were deaf?_

_I didn’t want you to think I was weird._

Soon they were out of tissue to write on and Jongdae’s food had arrived. 

Baekhyun made a face as he read the last line. 

“I wouldn’t have thought you were weird. What’s so weird about being deaf?” 

Baekhyun didn’t know if Jongdae understood him but he just shrugged, smiled apologetically and began to eat his food. 

Talking, or well, holding a conversation with a deaf person was hard when they were eating and so he decided to keep quiet for now.

Yixing talked to both of them as they ate, using sign language while he talked and Baekhyun felt a bit bad because to be able to talk to them, Yixing then had to put down his chopsticks and use sign language so Jongdae wouldn’t feel left out.

Apparently, Jongdae worked as a florist just around the corner and had another part-time job at the library – jobs Baekhyun wouldn’t have even guessed but as he looked at Jongdae, he could definitely see him surrounded by flowers, pink and yellow and red as beautiful as his smile. 

Yixing must have said (signed? signaled? Baekhyun wondered) something funny because then Jongdae began laughing and Baekhyun couldn’t stop himself from grinning because it might very well be one of the best sounds Baekhyun had ever heard. 

They sat there for more than hour, talking, catching up and getting to know each other (through the helpful, translation of Yixing) and Baekhyun was honestly having a bit of fun. But too soon, Jongdae had to leave for his shift at the flower shop. 

“See you later,” Jongdae said as he waved goodbye. 

Yixing moved his hands in a gesture Baekhyun assumed was goodbye so he rushed to copy him, hoping he did it right. 

Based from Jongdae beaming at him, he must have done it right. 

“What did I say?” Baekhyun asked, turning back to Yixing excitedly. Yixing chuckled at his enthusiasm

“’I hope you have a good day’”

Baekhyun smiled to himself. 

And Yixing watched in amusement as Baekhyun sat there, biting his lip and practically glowing with happiness. 

“Ah,” Yixing sighed, making Baekhyun look at him. “You two are so cute, I swear,” he said, standing up to leave after leaving a tip under one of the glasses. 

Baekhyun looked at him, schooling his face into neutrality. 

 

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun asked as he chased after him. 

 

“Maybe we should invite him over for dinner,” Kyungsoo suggested. 

Baekhyun snorted. 

“What are you? My parents, excited I met a new friend?”

“Well, seeing as you haven’t made a single genuine friend in a few years, our reaction is kinda understandable,” Jongin said, leaning over his kitchen counter. 

“Hey,” Baekhyun protested. “I’m friendly enough and what would I need new friends for when I have you guys.”

Now it was Kyungsoo’s time to snort. 

“Yeah, but it isn’t a friend you’re looking for, is it?” Yixing said, smirking at him.

Baekhyun reddened. 

“Why are you all ganging up on me?” He whined. “You want him over for dinner? Fine, let’s have him over for dinner, but I am not cooking.”

“Oh, that won’t be a problem. I’d be more than willing to cook for all of us,” Kyungsoo said, already thinking up their meal for the night. “Besides, if we leave the cooking to you, Jongdae may never want to visit again.”

Yixing whipped his phone out of his pocket and began typing away but before he could press send, he looked up and stared at Baekhyun. 

“What?” Baekhyun said defensively. 

“I think you should invite him over, it’ll look much sweeter that way,” Yixing said, already showing Baekhyun Jongdae’s number. 

“Good idea,” Jongin said, nodding along. 

“Stop trying to set me up!” 

“We’re not,” Yixing protested. Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at his friend.

“Okay, maybe we kinda are,” Yixing relented, shrugging his shoulders and handing Baekhyun the phone. 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes but took the phone all the same. 

“If I was looking for a relationship, I would’ve found it already,” he said. 

“Is that why you tried to annoy him every night?”

 

Chanyeol’s laugh filled the whole apartment as he clapped his hands together in amusement. 

“God, you’re embarrassing,” Sehun smirked at him from the couch as he explained how Jongdae was apparently deaf. 

“How was I supposed to know,” Baekhyun tried to defend himself, his face red with embarrassment once more. 

Jongin, Yixing and Kyungsoo were in the kitchen, cooking dinner while Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Sehun lounged around the living room. Jongin had insisted on hanging out in the kitchen despite not actually doing anything except watch the others cook. 

“Maybe, if you had noticed something other than his dazzling smile you would have realized he was deaf,” Chanyeol teased. 

Baekhyun glared at him but was unable to say something, he sighed in defeat. 

“Maybe, he just did a good job of hiding it. If I had known – “

Yixing cut him off, walking out off the kitchen. 

“If you had known, you would have treated him differently and he would have hated that,” he said. “It’s better this way.”

“I wouldn’t have pitied him or anything,” Baekhyun snorted. “I’m just saying, I wouldn’t have bothered making so much noise at night if he couldn’t hear it anyway.”

“What kind of noises?” Sehun teased.

Baekhyun shot him a glare.

“Yeah, you would’ve just approached him and introduced yourself like a normal person instead of being an idiot and waking half the neighborhood, huh?” Chanyeol said.

“Okay, maybe doing that was kinda stupid -”

“It was plenty stupid,” Chanyeol nodded. 

“But can you blame me? I’m not really good with this stuff. Why do you guys think I’m a writer?”

“Because you’re good with words?”

“That doesn’t mean I’m good with people! I don’t know how to talk to people – they always say the things I never would have expected them to say. It throws me off. ” Baekhyun huffed. 

“Byun Baekhyun? Not good with people? Please,” Jongin huffed back, plopping down on the couch beside him. “You’ll make him fall for you in a heartbeat.”

“Hey! I never said I wanted him to fall for me. I just want to be friends.”

“Then just be friends, I think he’d love that,” Yixing beamed at Baekhyun. 

“The rest comes after,” Chanyeol winked. 

Baekhyun sighed just as a knock came at his door. 

He stood up slowly from where he sat, ignoring his friends’ mischievous glances. 

“Let’s just start with friends, why don’t we?”

Kyungsoo wiggled his eyebrows at him from where he worked at the stove as Baekhyun passed him. 

“I swear, you guys are much more excited about this than I am,” Baekhyun muttered as he unbolted the locks on his door and swung the door open – 

To Jongdae standing there with a small bouquet of flowers in his hand. 

Baekhyun’s breath hitched at the sight – and just when he thought he was ready for anything coming his way tonight, Jongdae just had to go and bring him some flowers. To be fair, it was rather a small clump of flowers but they were flowers all the same. 

It was a mix of purples and whites and it looked really pretty but – flowers weren’t exactly Baekhyun’s style. 

He really needed to learn to peek through the peephole before opening his door. 

“Um? Thank you,” Baekhyun took them with an awkward laugh. “Come in.”

Baekyun gestured, moving to the side to let Jongdae pass. Jongdae smiled at him warmly but stopped rather abruptly a few steps into his apartment. 

Apparently, he wasn’t expecting the company. Baekhyun approached him and saw a look of shock cross Jongdae’s face before melting into a comfortable, relieved look when his eyes landed on Yixing, who was busy setting the food up on the small dining table. 

Chanyeol, Sehun and Jongin all stood up at the same time and did small bows and waves in greeting, already knowing that talking would be quite pointless. 

“Hi,” Jongdae said brightly. “I’m Kim Jongdae.”

The three giants just nodded, not sure what to say, making Baekhyun and Yixing laugh out. 

Thankfully, Yixing was there to save the day. 

“Jongdae,” Yixing began, moving his hands in gestures.”This is Chanyeol, Sehun and Jongin.”

His hands moved slowly and he pointed to each as he finished the syllables of their names. 

“Chanyeol,” Jongdae tested saying, nodding to himself. “Sehun. Jongin. It’s nice to meet you.”

Jongdae bowed. 

Yixing spotted the bouquet in Baekhyun’s hands the same time the others did and identical smirks spread across their faces. Jongdae must have noticed where they were all looking because he turned his head to look at Baekhyun too before straightening up in realization, a bit red. 

He quickly tried to explain to Yixing. Yixing diligently translated. 

“Didn’t know what to bring. And I was already at the flower shop. So I figured, why not?” Yixing said amusedly. 

Baekhyun tapped Jongdae’s shoulder to get his attention. 

Jongdae looked over to him worriedly but blinked when he saw Baekhyun’s warm, genuine smile.  
Baekhyun said ‘Thank you’ in sign language he only learned that afternoon but all that rushed cramming was worth it when Jongdae beamed at him and inclined his head. 

‘You’re welcome,’ he signed back. 

Baekhyun smiled once more before walking over to the kitchen to look for a pitcher to use as a vase. He never actually thought he’d need a vase for flowers when he moved in but he guessed it was time to buy one. 

Maybe he should ask one from his Mom the next time he went home to visit. Maybe over the holidays.

Kyungsoo eyed him in the kitchen. 

“Those are nice,” he commented, filling up a tall glass with tap water and handing it to Baekhyun. “Did Jongdae bring them for you?”

Baekhyun took the glass gratefully. 

“Yeah. He works at the flower shop and didn’t know what else to bring,” Baekhyun said as he fixed the flowers into the glass, looking at them fondly. 

“That was sweet of him.”

“You do know that you look and sound like a mother right now?” Baekhyun said, noting the glasses perched on his nose and the apron tied around his waist.

Kyungsoo shrugged. “The flowers do look pretty and he had the good sense not to bring too much.”

Baekhyun waddled over to take a peek at what Kyungsoo was cooking, leaving the makeshift vase of flowers on the counter. 

“Looks delicious,” Baekhyun said. “Thanks again for cooking.”

“You’re welcome. Now, shoo.”

Jongdae and Yixing were teaching the others sign language when Baekhyun returned to the living room. 

“Dinner’s almost done.” Baekhyun said, making four of them look at him. Only when Jongdae noticed that the others turned to look at him did he turn around too, meeting Baekhyun’s eyes before turning to Yixing and probably asking him to translate. 

Once he understood, he looked back to Baekhyun and smiled. 

“Are you cooking?” He asked out loud slowly, as if he was afraid he was saying the wrong thing. 

Baekhyun shook his head with a laugh. He racked his head for any word he remembered in sign language that would allow him to explain. Jongdae cocked his head, waiting. 

Baekhyun straightened as he remembered one. 

“Uhm? Friend?” Baekhyun said, doing the corresponding signal, looking desperately at Yixing for guidance but Yixing merely giggled when Jongdae glanced at him confusedly. 

“He means a friend is cooking for us,” Yixing said and signaled. 

“Ahhh,” Jongdae said, nodding his head in understanding before holding out a thumbs-up. 

Baekhyun joined them there in the living room, sitting on the arm of the armchair Sehun was sitting on. Yixing and Jongdae sat on the couch, Chanyeol on the floor and Jongin on the other armchair. 

“You’re really good with sign language, Xing. When did you learn?”

“Well, Jongdae’s parents and mine are really close friends so we’ve known each other since we were children,” Yixing said, moving his hands along with the story. Jongdae straightened and sent Baekhyun a sheepish smile when he realized they were talking about him. Baekhyun smiled back. 

“When his hearing was worsening, his parents suggested that he started learning sign language just in case. I decided I wanted to learn with him – both to be able to still communicate with him and so he wouldn’t feel too lonely.”

“How old were you?” Chanyeol asked and Yixing dutifully relayed the message to Jongdae.

“Fifteen,” Jongdae said before doing another series of hand motions. 

“I’ve had a lot of time to get used to it,” Yixing translated. “I miss a lot of things though.”

Jongdae made a face and nodded. 

“I miss music. I miss singing,” Jongdae said sadly. The way he said it was clear like the words were etched into his heart and it didn’t take much for him to speak them out despite not hearing himself. It probably echoed in his head every waking moment. 

“Baekhyun sings,” Chanyeol suddenly said, pointing to him and started imitating the action of singing to prove his point. 

Jongdae glanced at Chanyeol and then to Baekhyun. 

“Really?”

The others laughed as Baekhyun flushed. 

“Is it really that hard to believe?” Baekhyun muttered, looking down.

Jongdae then smiled softly.

“I want to hear it.”

Baekhyun snapped his gaze back toward Jongdae and blinked at the eagerness in his face. 

“We should do something about those hearing aids of yours first,” Baekhyun said. Yixing translated for him and Jongdae nodded and gave another thumbs-up. 

“Food’s ready,” Kyungsoo said from behind them. 

Chanyeol, Jongin and Sehun wasted no time flying off their chairs and rushing toward the too small table. 

Baekhyun and Yixing smirked after them while Jongdae merely laughed. 

“I doubt we’d all fit around that table, do you want to eat here instead?” Baekhyun asked Jongdae and another rush of gratitude went through Baekhyun as Yixing translated for him.

“No,” Kyungsoo chided. “He is the guest. If anyone is sitting and eating in the living room, it should be Chanyeol and the others.”

Chanyeol was about to protest but caught himself when he met Kyungsoo’s glare. He finally just shrugged. 

“I actually really don’t mind,” Sehun nodded. 

Jongdae turned to Yixing to explain what happened. 

“We can sit over at the table now,” Yixing said and signed (is that the right term? Baekhyun really had to check it up later). 

Jongdae hand-signaled (or is this more appropriate? Baekhyun’s writer mind could not decide) something and Yixing nodded. 

“It’s really alright,” Yixing insisted, standing up when Baekhyun did, Jongdae following suit. 

As they walked to the table, Baekhyun noticed that Jongdae’s coat was still in his folded in his arms. 

Baekhyun tapped him on the shoulder. 

“Let me take that,” Baekhyun smiled, pointing at the jacket and then pointing at the coat rack by the door, hoping that Jongdae understood. 

Jongdae, it seemed, understood just fine, handing over the coat with a small ‘thanks’ before turning back around and sitting on one of the chairs, quickly vacated by the others. So, while the others stood around the table, Kyungsoo, Yixing, Baekhyun and Jongdae sat down. 

Jongdae seemed to be a bit nervous, worrying on his lip a bit at being surrounded. 

Baekhyun patted him on the shoulder before sitting down, trying to comfort him. 

“Yixing, tell him he’s in for quite the dinner. Kyungsoo’s a great cook,” Jongin grinned at Jongdae warmly and some of the tension on Jongdae’s shoulders relaxed. Baekhyun smiled in relief. 

Yixing relayed Jongin’s message to Jongdae. 

Jongdae nodded vigorously. 

He told Yixing something before turning to Kyungsoo and inclining his head.

“Thank you,” Jongdae said. 

“It already smells delicious,” Yixing translated. 

A smile spread across Kyungsoo’s cheeks. 

“You’re welcome. Should we say grace?” 

“It’s your turn, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun gave the tall boy a pointed look. 

Chanyeol nodded and clasped his hands infront of him and bowed his head. Jongdae watched as all of them bowed their head in prayer and Baekhyun watched Jongdae’s facial expression change as he realized what was happening and Baekhyun could swear Jongdae smiled happily at the fact that they prayed before a meal. 

When Chanyeol’s prayer for their food ended, they all raised their heads. 

Baekhyun’s gaze went straight over to Jongdae and his heart stops. Looking around at all of them, at the food in front of him and then at Baekhyun himself, Jongdae’s smile could light the whole city.

 

Dinner passed them by in a whirl of food, drinks and bright laughter that left Baekhyun with a feeling of longing for more nights like tonight. 

He was glad they had invited Jongdae. 

He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Their eyes would meet now and again and Baekhyun would smile encouragingly and Jongdae would chuckle. 

Before Sehun could pop out the alcohol in Baekhyun’s fridge, Jongdae, thankfully, said that he needed to get going. 

“He has a check-up tomorrow morning,” Yixing elaborated. “And as much as he wanted to watch us all get drunk, he really needs to be early tomorrow.”

Sehun shrugged. 

“Fine, we can all get drunk without him.”

Kyungsoo groaned and rolled his eyes, bracing himself for a night full of stupidity. 

Jongin pouted at his boyfriend. 

“You should be thankful that we’re getting drunk here instead of at a random bar,” he argued. 

The conversation faded away as Baekhyun walked Jongdae to the door. 

“You don’t have to, Baekhyun,” Jongdae protested when Baekhyun had gotten up with him but Baekhyun had walked him out anyway. 

“You might trip on your way out,” Baekhyun said, mostly to himself. He found himself wondering what Jongdae would’ve said in reply if he had heard Baekhyun. 

Probably somewhere along the lines of:

‘I’m deaf, Baekhyun, not blind.’

Baekhyun let out a small laugh as he handed Jongdae his coat and walked out unto the hallway with him. He leaned against the small space of wall between his door and Jongdae’s, watching as Jongdae unlocked his door and step in. 

“Good night,” Baekhyun said with a soft smile. 

Jongdae returned the smile. 

“Goodnight, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun had turned away before Jongdae had even closed the door. 

“Did you give him a goodnight kiss?” Yixing teased, making the others chuckle. 

Baekhyun seriously considered it. 

“I thought we were getting drunk?” Baekhyun muttered, plopping down on the couch and reaching out for a glass for Sehun to fill. 

 

As Baekhyun stalked out of the bedroom where he Kyungsoo and Yixing had slept for the night – he and Yixing side by side and Kyungsoo on a mattress on the floor – he couldn’t help the guffaw that rose out of him at the sight of Jongin, Sehun and Chanyeol passed out in the living room. 

Baekhyun shook his head as he walked into the kitchen where Kyungsoo was whipping something up for breakfast and Yixing sat at the counter, working on something on his laptop. 

“You’re up early,” Yixing noted, looking away from his laptop screen. 

“I have to run a few errands today. Why do you think I didn’t drink as much as I would’ve last night?”

“I did notice you holding back just by a little bit,” Yixing joked and Baekhyun stuck his tongue out in response. 

“Do you need me to buy anything? I’m going to the bank to pay some of the bills for this month,” Baekhyun directed the question to Kyungsoo. 

“Coffee, maybe? I’m already cooking up some hangover soup for the boys but they might want coffee,” Kyungsoo said thoughtfully. 

“You know,” Baekhyun hummed. “We should all really be thankful Mom fills up my fridge every other week. I have no idea where you get those ingredients you use, Soo.” 

“Your Mom’s an angel,” Yixing nodded, agreeing. 

“What about me? Aren’t I an angel?” Baekhyun grinned. 

“Nope,” Yixing said.

“No,” Kyungsoo muttered.

“Thanks, guys.”

 

Twirling his car keys around his finger, Baekhyun walked out of his apartment building. 

Walking toward his car, he noticed a familiar figure trying to hail a cab a few meters away. 

“Jongdae!” Baekhyun called out before he remembered that Jongdae couldn’t hear. 

“Idiot,” he muttered to himself. 

He clasped his keys in his fist, jogged over and tapped Jongdae on the shoulder. 

“Hey,” Baekhyun said cheerfully.

Jongdae was all smiles when he realized it was him. 

“Good morning,” Jongdae managed, inclining his head a bit in greeting. 

Baekhyun pointed at himself and then to his car and then to Jongdae. 

“Do you need a ride?” He said as he pointed along. 

Jongdae furrowed his brows, trying to understand. Baekhyun showed his car keys, hoping Jongdae would understand. 

Apparently he did because he brightened and nodded his head. 

“Thank you,” Jongdae said as Baekhyun led him over to his car. 

‘No problem’ Baekhyun said in hopefully were the correct hand gestures. Basing on the surprised and impressed look on Jongdae’s face, he probably did a good enough job to be understood. 

Baekhyun even went as far as to open the door for Jongdae before going around the front to get to the driver’s seat. It was weird for Baekhyun to just sit there and not say anything as he started up the car and waited for it to heat a bit under the chilly morning air, this was usually the time he would babble along and crack a few jokes. 

He looked over to Jongdae and saw him texting on his phone. Not wanting to invade in his privacy, he looked away.

The weird, warm feeling he got whenever he looked at Jongdae wasn’t as intense as last night where every glance made Baekhyun’s heart race in his chest. Now, he just felt a bit awkward in the silence. Baekhyun whipped out his own phone and began typing away. 

‘Where do you need to go?’ Baekhyun typed into his notepad before tapping Jongdae on the shoulder and showing the message. Since Baekhyun was pretty much pathetic in sign language, he figured texting and using his phone was the next best thing. 

Jongdae read it then let out a small laugh before showing his phone to Baekhyun. 

He wasn’t texting someone at all, he was typing up the address and very specific set of directions toward his doctor’s clinic. 

Baekhyun read through it and nodded with a small smile. It wasn’t that far away, maybe a 15-minute drive away from the bank. 

Baekhyun cleared his original message and typed up a new one.

_‘You’re going to have to point me in the right direction just in case’_

Jongdae laughed before nodding. 

 

15 minutes later, he was dropping Jongdae off and was waving goodbye. Baekhyun was glad he didn’t need to say anything because it wouldn’t be heard anyway. 

Because honestly, what did someone say as farewell to someone who was about to having a doctor’s appointment. Good luck? Stay safe? Be careful?

Such thoughts filled Baekhyun’s mind as he drove toward the bank, humming along to a song playing on the radio. 

It wasn’t a surprise that there was already a line at the bank despite it still being relatively early in the morning. Chanyeol, Sehun and Jongin probably weren’t even awake yet. Baekhyun sighed as he thought up a way to pass the time, slumping down on his chair. 

Just then, his phone buzzed in his pocket, signaling a text message. 

Baekhyun was half expecting it was Kyungsoo, asking him to buy something else but was pleasantly surprised when it was in fact Jongdae thanking him again for the ride. 

‘Are you waiting in line too?’ Baekhyun replied. 

It didn’t even take long before his phone buzzed again. 

‘Yeah. Didn’t expect there’d be this much people today. How about you? Where were you headed before you saw me trying to hail a cab?’

‘I’m at the bank right now. It’s as packed as what you may imagine.’

‘Oh hahaha I guess I feel a little less sorry for myself now.’

Baekhyun smiled at his phone, already alright with how long the line was, as long as he could keep talking with Jongdae. 

But half an hour later of texting each other and Baekhyun finally feeling less awkward with Jongdae, it was Jongdae’s turn to get a check-up. 

‘See you later,’ Jongdae last text said. 

From then, it seemed like the line in the bank started to move faster and Baekhyun got to finish his errands faster than he had originally thought. 

On his way home, he bought everyone coffee the way they liked it, setting it carefully on the seat beside him, mindful not to let them spill the whole 10-minute drive home. 

“Was the line that long?” Yixing asked as Baekhyun walked into the kitchen after setting the coffee down on the table. He and Kyungsoo sat on the bar stools facing the counter, Kyungsoo reading a book and Yixing probably working on a new song. 

“Nah, I ran into Jongdae on the way out and gave him a ride over to his doctor’s clinic. The coffee’s on the table by the way. I got you guys, you’re favorites.”

Baekhyun would usually order for them whenever they had decided to do some studying in coffee shops and cafes instead of at the university library back in college. 

Yixing looked up from his laptop in surprise at the mention of Jongdae. 

“Jongdae?”

Kyungsoo merely hopped down from the stool and stalked over to the stove to heat up the soup before going out into the living room to wake up the Sehun and Jongin – Chanyeol apparently already up and taking a shower. 

“Yeah, Jongdae, you know, the guy who lives next door, your friend”

“You drove him to his doctor’s clinic? That was sweet of you,” Yixing grinned. 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and opened the fridge to look for something to eat besides hangover soup. 

“Here,” Yixing pointed to a plate covered by another plate settled on the counter just beside his laptop. “Kyungsoo cooked up some bacon and eggs for breakfast.”

“Where the hell did he get the bacon?” Baekhyun wondered as he pulled out another plate for himself and Yixing. “Why is it, when I’m left alone here, I don’t find anything to eat?”

“That’s because you never bother to look in the freezer,” Chanyeol said, breezing in freshly showered. “Good morning, Yixing.”

“Good morning.”

“You working on another song?” Chanyeol asked, looking over Yixing’s shoulder to see the screen. Yixing nodded wordlessly and as they started talking about music and producing, Baekhyun tuned them out, focusing on putting rice and piling food unto his plate. 

When he walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room he saw Jongin and Sehun struggling to wake up, sipping on the cups of coffee he had bought them in the living room, uncharacteristically silent. Kyungsoo was sitting at the table, sipping on his coffee and reading the newspaper. 

Baekhyun settled his plate down on the spot in front of Kyungsoo and began digging in, thinking about the work he had to finish by today and the errands he had to run. 

With a small pout, he realized he actually didn’t have anything to do today. 

“Hey, Soo,” Baekhyun began.

“Hm?” 

“Do you guys have anything to do today?”

“It’s Monday, Baek. We have work.”

Baekhyun nodded along, propping his chin on a hand, watching as Sehun and Jongin passed by them and entered the kitchen. 

Baekhyun knew everyone had work, hell, even he had work but he knew he’d finish that before lunch which left him with nothing to do for the rest of the day. Even Yixing seemed a bit busy. 

Well, Baekhyun thought, I guess it’s another day of gaming for me.

Okay, maybe not. 

Baekhyun sat there in front of his computer, twisting his office chair this way and that, unable to keep still. 

Maybe I should go out. Baekhyun wondered. But where would I go?

“Xing,” Baekhyun started, spinning his chair around to face Yixing who had moved from the kitchen counter to the table. He had his earphones on and he looked totally immersed in what he was doing, which was probably why he didn’t hear Baekhyun. 

“Xing.”

Nothing. 

“Yixing!”

Yixing finally looked up from his laptop, slipping his earphones off when he saw Baekhyun looking at him.

“Yeah?” Yixing asked sheepishly. 

Baekhyun made a face. “Do you wanna go out?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“No, Xing. I’m asking if you aren’t too busy, I wanna go to the cinema and watch a movie.”

“Oh, I’d love to Baek, but I really have to finish this up. Maybe tomorrow?”

Baekhyun pouted causing Yixing to laugh.

“I really am sorry. Don’t you have work?”

“Not right now apparently and it goes against my morale code to start writing an article too early.” 

Yixing snickered and shook his head before perking up and sending him a smirk. 

“Why don’t you go visit Jongdae in the flower shop and ask him to watch a movie with you. He should be done with his check-up by now.”

The thought had crossed Baekhyun’s mind several times in the past hour but he wasn’t sure he could handle the awkwardness that might be between them again. 

Baekhyun pursed his lips as he thought about it, sighing through his nose. 

“What if he disagrees?” Baekhyun whined, kicking his chair into a spin.

“Then go watch a movie on your own.”

Baekhyun stood from his chair, grabbing his jacket and tossing it on. 

“Are you gonna be okay here on your own?”

“Yes, Baek, I’m not a child.”

Baekhyun grabbed his car keys and shouted on his way out. 

“Try not to burn the house down, Xing.”

“I’ll try my best, I can’t make you any promises,” Yixing called out to him with a small laugh.

 

Baekhyun sat there in his car, trying to think up the words that wouldn’t make him sound like a total loser. 

Maybe he could pretend to buy some flowers? 

Yeah, yeah that sounded good. He finally opened the door to his car and stepped out, gathering whatever courage he had. 

He literally saw Jongdae just a few hours ago, he could do this. He even went through the trouble of looking up tutorial videos on how to basic sign language in YouTube – all of which he forgot within ten minutes of watching. 

Baekhyun stopped just outside the open shop, admiring the flowers displayed out front. They looked beautiful even if they weren’t arranged in any way – just there to absorb sunlight and entice people passing by to take a peek inside. 

Without even noticing it someone walked out of the shop and approached him. The first thing Baekhyun noticed about him was his bright, pretty eyes and for a short second Baekhyun thought he was looking at a girl. 

“Can I help you?” He asked.

He really was pretty; Baekhyun could find no other word to describe him at the moment. It took Baekhyun a couple of seconds to remember why exactly he was there. 

“Oh! Is Jongdae here?”

The boy’s brows rose in surprise. 

“It isn’t his shift. He’s most likely down at the library.” The boy said after a few seconds of thinking before he narrowed his eyes at Baekhyun. “Why? What do you want with him?” 

Baekhyun could hear the protectiveness in his voice.

“My name is Baekhyun. I’m a friend of his. Well, that may be overstretching it. I’m his neighbor.”

The boy gaped at him. “You’re Baekhyun?”

“Yes? Do you know who I am?”

“Jongdae’s mentioned you a few times before.”

Baekhyun had no idea he was worth mentioning to a workmate. 

“I’m Luhan by the way. My family runs this shop.”

“It’s pretty,” Baekhyun said lamely. 

Luhan laughed at his response. 

“I guess so.”

“So, why are you looking for Jongdae?” Luhan continued, peering at him curiously, his arms crossing over his chest. 

“Nothing really. I just had something to ask,” Baekhyun forced himself to shrug.

“You couldn’t just text him?” Luhan wondered.

“I had nothing to do today and I wanted to get some Vitamin Ds,” Baekhyun tried to joke. 

Luhan nodded understandingly. 

“Well, I know Jongdae’s shift doesn’t end for a few more hours,” Luhan looked behind Baekhyun, where the flowers Baekhyun was admiring a few minutes ago were displayed. He reached for a few and bundled them up together and studied them with a small smirk on his face. 

“Wait here,” he said before walking into the shop. Baekhyun watched him curiously from outside. Luhan added small details to the small bundle of flowers and tied it all at the middle with a brown string. 

Luhan jogged back out and handed it over to Baekhyun. 

“Could you do me a favor? He’s just come from a check-up and he’s usually a bit stressed out after – these are his favorites, it might cheer him up a bit.”

Baekhyun took it and admired the florist’s handiwork. The flowers, maybe two different kinds, were different shades of yellow and they looked beautiful.

“Should I say it’s from you?”

“Oh, you don’t have to. He’ll know.” 

Baekhyun wondered if it was just his imagination but he swore Luhan eyes glittered with just a bit of mischief.

“Alright, thanks,” Baekhyun said before turning to walk back to his car. 

To the library, then.

 

Baekhyun hadn’t been to a library in so long walking into one made filled him with nostalgia. The smell of books, the sight of the college students hunched over their homework, the feeling of being somewhere timeless made Baekhyun stand at the entrance, breathing it all in. 

He clutched the small bouquet in one hand and a small notebook in the other. He studied the flowers and remembered how Jongdae had given a slightly similar bunch just last night, wondering if bringing each other flowers would be a thing of theirs. 

Shaking his head, he shook away those thoughts and started walking around, looking for Jongdae. 

The library was vast with tall shelves all around, it might take him a little bit longer than he originally thought. 

Baekhyun tried not to look too self-conscious as some people looked up from their work to look at him and the flowers he held in his hand. He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly through his noise, looking here and there for a familiar face. 

Then, just as Baekhyun was going to just sit on one of the seats and simple text Jongdae, he found him behind one of the shelves around the back with a cart of books, arranging books in their proper places. 

Baekhyun approached him, his hands sweating from irrational nervousness. 

Jongdae noticed him before he even raised a hand to get his attention and his hand froze in its action of putting a book back on the shelf, his expression changing into one of confusion. 

“Baekhyun?”

This time, Baekhyun raised his hand to say ‘hi’.

“Hey,” Baekhyun said. 

They stood there for a few seconds, taking each other in even if they had seen each other not too long ago. Jongdae broke his gaze to glance down at the flowers in Baekhyun’s hands. 

Baekhyun straightened up and handed Jongdae the bouquet. 

Jongdae looked startled for a moment before taking the flowers from him. He studied it as if looking for their meaning. 

Apparently he found it because he flushed and covered his face, laughing silently.

Baekhyun opened his small notebook and grabbed the pen he had slipped in his back pocket and began writing.

_Luhan wanted me to give those to you. He said it would cheer you up._

He showed the note to Jongdae and watched silently as he ran his eyes over it and was surprised when Jongdae rolled his eyes and shook his head. Baekhyun watched the small action, a bit surprised, because it was his first time seeing Jongdae a bit annoyed. 

“May I?” Jongdae asked, holding his hand out. Baekhyun had the strange urge to put his hand in his but he decided against it – he was probably just asking for the pen not a hand to hold. 

Baekhyun gave the pen to him and followed when Jongdae jerked his head to one of the tables by the windows, gesturing for him to sit with him. 

Baekhyun sat and watched silently as Jongdae wrote, watching and admiring as rays of sunlight went through the open window and danced around and framed Jongdae’s face; the soft, slightly, chilly breeze brushing through his curls. 

Jongdae slid the notebook back to him and Baekhyun blinked, waking himself up from his thoughts with a sharp inhale. He leaned forward and read what Jongdae wrote. 

_You gave me quite the shock. What brings you here? Did you need something?_

Baekhyun read it and reached for the pen, quickly writing a reply. 

_Actually I was just wondering if you’d like to hang out with me after your shift ends._

Baekhyun turned the notebook to let Jongdae read. His eyebrows rose in surprise, meeting Baekhyun’s eyes, a question in his own. 

_I was feeling a bit bored at home and the others were too busy. Baekhyun explained, letting a pout settle on his lips._

Jongdae, after reading, let out a chuckle. He reached over for the notebook and pen again.

_If that’s the case, I wouldn’t mind. I don’t have anything to do after this. What did you have in mind, anyway?_

_I was planning on watching a movie but you might not enjoy that as much I would. What do you want to do?_

Jongdae leaned back in his chair, thinking about what he wanted to spend the rest of the day doing. 

“Hmm,” Jongdae hummed, putting on a thinking face.

Baekhyun watched him in amusement, sitting back and getting comfortable. 

Jongdae met his eyes and pouted, grabbing the pen and started scribbling on the notebook. 

_I can’t think of anything :(_

Baekhyun threw his head back and laughed. 

_How long ‘til your shift ends? I’ll give you until then to decide. I don’t offer up dates for just anyone, you know._

Jongdae raised his eyebrows at that. 

_So, this is a date?_

Baekhyun ignored his heart rapidly beating in his heart. 

_If you want it to be._

Jongdae smiled and let out a small laugh and Baekhyun watched him for a shake or nod of his head but he did neither – he didn’t know if he should feel relieved or disappointed at the lack of an answer. 

_What will you do here while you wait?_

_Probably read a book or something. I find that I missed libraries._

Baekhyun peered at the flowers Jongdae had set aside as Jongdae read the latest reply and nodded his head.

_By the way, why did you laugh when I gave you the flowers?_

Jongdae glanced at the flowers, blushed and rolled his eyes. 

_Did you know that each flower has a meaning?_

Baekhyun nodded. 

Well, Luhan knew I’d think they were from you and I’d get flustered when I received it. 

Baekhyun knew the florist looked a bit suspicious when he had handed Baekhyun the flowers. 

_Please don’t tell me they mean something incredibly embarrassing._

_Not exactly._

Jongdae stood up, gathering the notebook, pen and flowers in his hands and gestured for Baekhyun to follow. 

Baekhyun stood and followed silently. People who had eyed him when he passed them by earlier eyed them now, noticing the flowers that were no longer in Baekhyun’s possession but now in Jongdae’s. 

Even if the flower-giving had no deep meaning for Baekhyun, he was ready to glare at anyone who dared to throw them disgusted looks. 

His family and friends had long accepted his sexuality, not one had even looked at him with disdain or disgust, instead, they were more supportive than Baekhyun had ever hoped they could be. 

Thankfully, none gave them dirty looks but a few young girls did giggle behind their hands making Baekhyun duck his head and follow after Jongdae quicker. 

Jongdae stopped in front a shelf of books, scanning for the one he was looking for. It must’ve been pretty high up because Jongdae craned his neck to look up, narrowing his eyes, reading each title carefully. He brightened when his eyes found what it was looking for. 

He put everything he was holding in Baekhyun’s arms and pulled one of the ladders closer, climbing effortlessly. Baekhyun gripped the ladder, afraid that he might fall despite the ladder looking perfectly capable to hold Jongdae. 

Jongdae was up and back down again in less than 10 seconds, pulling Baekhyun to the side, to where there was another table. He laid out the book on the surface of the table. 

Flowers and Their Meanings, the book was entitled. 

Baekhyun was sure he could’ve searched up all of that on the internet but he understood the feeling you actually get from a hardbound rather than a soft copy of any text.

Baekhyun watched and waited as Jongdae flipped through the pages and wondered if Jongdae had the whole thing memorized cover to cover. 

He peeked over his shoulder and saw just as Jongdae began pointing to an image on the page. 

Baekhyun looked from the page to the flowers in his hands and back again. Apparently the bright flowers were dandelions and there were a lot of types of dandelions but they all vaguely meant the same thing. 

He sat down, Jongdae settling in beside him to read it better. 

Apparently when one was giving another with dandelions, it meant coquetry. 

Coquetry? Flirting?

Baekhyun nodded slowly, understanding. Jongdae then flipped to the next pages, landing on the page of Jonquils another type of daffodils. During the Victorian Ages, when giving flowers as messages was still a thing, it meant that the giver was demanding attention or a return of affection. 

Understanding, Baekhyun let out a laugh, opening the notebook and moving to write on it. 

_So, these flowers practically show that I’m trying to hit on you?_

Jongdae saw the note and nodded, a grin forming on his face. 

_Sorta. Not really your typical pick-up line at the bar, is it?Baekhyun smiled at that, shaking his head in amusement._

“Jongdae,” someone shouted in a whisper. “Where are you?”

Baekhyun stood up and looked behind them to see a girl younger than both of them with a stack of books in her arms looking around. She probably worked there like Jongdae did. 

He tapped Jongdae’s shoulder, calling his attention from the book and pointing to the girl behind him. 

Jongdae looked at where he was pointing and stood up hastily when he saw the girl, probably remembering that he had work to do and books to arrange. 

He grabbed the pen and scribbled as fast as he could before saying goodbye to Baekhyun and rushing off toward the direction the girl had gone. 

_I’ve got to go back to work now. Is it alright if you wait for me here? There’s less than an hour before my shift ends anyway. Why don’t you study up on flowers while I’m gone?_

_Baekhyun sat back down and began flipping through the pages of the book. Ten minutes in, he found the book and all its content interesting enough that he got completely immersed, reading through every detail and fact. Some flowers were familiar to him, like his mother’s favorites or the most common that everyone knew and there were some that he had no idea existed._

One flower was only familiar to him because it was the kind Jongdae had given to him last night. 

They were flannel flowers, which apparently meant friendship and warmth. 

Baekhyun smiled to himself as he imagined the flowers in the make-shift vase sitting on his kitchen counter and was filled with the feeling of butterflies in his stomach. 

Half an hour later, someone tapped him on the shoulder. 

Baekhyun startled and looked behind him to see and hear Jongdae laugh. He took the seat beside Baekhyun and grabbed the pen and paper Baekhyun had used to take notes of specific flowers that had caught his attention. Jongdae read through it with a small, proud smile. 

Flipping to the next page, Jongdae began writing a note. 

_Interesting read?_

Baekhyun nodded. 

_Most invigorating_. Jongdae grinned at that. 

_Ready to go?_

Jongdae nodded before standing up. 

Baekhyun closed the book and gathered his stuff before standing up as well. Jongdae took the book and held the flowers in one hand, walking back to the shelves to put the book down. 

Once again, Baekhyun held on to the legs of the ladder, making sure it was safe. 

And when Jongdae was safely on the ground again, he threw Baekhyun a smile before walking out of there. 

Baekhyun trailed after him, studying him from behind. As he glanced at Jongdae’s hands, half hidden under the sleeves of his sweater, he’s filled with the urge to reach out and intertwine their fingers. Just as he thought he was actually going to do it, Baekhyun stopped himself. 

They exited the library, Baekhyun frowning at himself. 

Jongdae peeking at him from the sides woke him up from his thoughts. The expression on Jongdae’s face was curious and worried as if asking ‘are you okay?’

Baekhyun nodded and smiled before leading Jongdae to his car, where they had sat in comfortable silence a few hours ago. 

Once they were settled in and Baekhyun had turned on the heater, he whipped out his phone, discarding the notebook to the side. 

'So, anywhere you wanna go?'

Baekhyun showed the message to Jongdae.

Jongdae made a show of tipping his head and taking a sip. Baekhyun knew he must have been talking about getting coffee at a café but he couldn’t resist teasing him. 

'You want to go grab a beer? But it’s 3 in the afternoon.' 

Jongdae looked a bit startled and amused at being misunderstood but when he saw the growing grin on Baekhyun’s face he immediately narrowed his eyes at Baekhyun in a playful glare. 

Baekhyun let out a laugh. 

“Okay, okay.”

'Point the way.' 

 

Jongdae brought them to a café Baekhyun had never been to before.

Without even being inside Baekhyun could already feel the pull of the place, as if it was calling him home. It looked beautiful and warm from the outside and he is suddenly reminded of the flower shop Jongdae worked at.

Is everything in Jongdae’s life this beautiful? Baekhyun found himself wondering.

Jongdae led them inside, opening the door for Baekhyun.

The welcome smell of coffee and freshly baked goods wafts through the air, calling Baekhyun to have a seat and take a sip. Tables and couches and chairs were scattered all around the café and, facing the floor-to-ceiling windows, were high table-tops and stools. Soft Christmas music filled the space, making Baekhyun look up and look for the speakers that spilled them. 

In the middle of it all was a gorgeous grand piano that had Baekhyun’s fingers itching to play. 

He only ever played at his parents’ house where his own piano sat in the living room. He hadn’t been there in months and he yearned to play. 

If it hadn’t been Jongdae, pulling at his sleeve to follow him to the counter, Baekhyun would’ve headed straight to it and played to his heart content, oblivious to the people around him. 

“Jongdae!”

The sound made Baekhyun tear his gaze away from the instrument and bring it to the barista who had spoken. 

They were about the same height, his hair was curled and he had spectacles perched on his nose, making him look cute and small. 

He smiled at Jongdae as Jongdae and Baekhyun approached. He glanced at Baekhyun briefly before engaging in a conversation with Jongdae in sign language. 

Just how friendly was Jongdae that he even convinced this barista to learn sign language for him. 

The man let out an amused hum. 

“Huh, so this is Baekhyun.” He said, finally looking at Baekhyun properly. His eyes reminded Baekhyun of a cat’s, the way they were sharp at the edges and piercing.

The barista smiled and held out his hand for handshake. 

“I’m Minseok, it’s nice to meet you.”

Baekhyun accepted the handshake and grinned. 

“It’s nice to meet you, too.”

He and Jongdae exchanged glances and Jongdae nodded his head, a soft smile on his face, before turning back to Minseok and telling him something. 

“He’s asking me to explain why he comes here a lot.”

Baekhyun just raised his eyebrows. 

“Is it because of the wonderful service or the great coffee?” He joked. 

“Both,” Minseok grinned. “But also because there’s a park close by and he enjoys taking walks there after he’s bought coffee from here. Right, Jongdae?”

Despite not hearing, Jongdae nodded when he met Minseok’s eyes, making Baekhyun laugh. 

They exchanged words through sign language again and Minseok nodded, grabbing two cups from the side and writing what were probably their order and their names on the surface. 

Minseok must have noticed the quizzical expression on Baekhyun’s face because he said,

“He’s ordering you his favorite. Go ahead and take a seat, I’ll bring the drinks over to you when they’re done.”

Baekhyun moved to take out his wallet just as Jongdae was. They stared at each other for a second before both began to protest. 

Jongdae pointed to himself and then to his wallet.

“No, I’ll pay. I’m the one who invited you out,” Baekhyun said, pointing to himself.

Minseok studied them from the side, smiling to himself and at the pair in front of him.

“Don’t worry, it’s on me.” 

Baekhyun whipped his head to look at him and Jongdae did the same as Minseok relayed what he said in sign language adding what was probably an explanation why. 

Jongdae frowned, a hint of a blush on his cheeks, before pouting a bit and nodding. Minseok handed him a buzzer with the number ‘4’ on it, smirking all the while.

Jongdae turned to Baekhyun and they shared an amused smile before they moved to sit at one of the tables. 

Baekhyun looked at the piano as they passed by, running his fingers softly across the keys lightly. 

They sat down and Jongdae took out his phone from his pocket, to be able to communicate. (They had left the notebook and the flowers in the car).

Do you know how to play?

He must’ve noticed how Baekhyun eyed the piano and how his gaze lingered even now. 

Yes. 

Jongdae straightened up and smiled brightly. 

“Play for me,” he said. 

The sudden sound of his voice made Baekhyun’s heart race. It was a bit loud, making some of the people look in their direction. 

“No,” Baekhyun said, shaking his head and smiling sheepishly. 

Jongdae pouted. 

“Please.”

Baekhyun gave him a questioning look. He pointed to Jongdae, then to an ear and then crossed his arms in an ‘X’.

But you can’t even hear me?

Jongdae shook his head as if saying that that didn’t matter. He typed something into his phone and showed it to Baekhyun. 

I just want to see you play. 

Baekhyun took the phone from him, a smile forming around his lips. 

What? You don’t believe that I can play? 

Jongdae read it then smirked and shook his head. 

Is that a challenge?

Jongdae didn’t respond, merely looked at Baekhyun and smiled a crooked smile. Baekhyun looked to the counter, checking if their drinks were anywhere near done before sighing in defeat. 

Fine. But only until our drinks arrive.

Jongdae read the message and he practically glowed with happiness. 

Baekhyun stood up and walked to the piano, trying to ignore the curious glances of the other customers. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Minseok lean forward with his arms on the counter, watching in interest. 

What was the point in playing for Jongdae when Jongdae couldn’t even hear him, Baekhyun thought to himself.

He settled himself on the stool in front of the piano, gingerly pressing some of the keys to check if the piano was tuned. It was a habit he had formed growing up and playing the piano whenever he could. 

Jongdae had apparently followed him over and now stood, hovering beside him.

Baekhyun looked up and met Jongdae’s eyes. He smiled encouragingly before placing his hands, palms open on the piano. Realization clicked inside Baekhyun’s head. 

Jongdae was going to listen through the vibrations the keys would make. 

Baekhyun smiled sadly at the idea. He couldn’t imagine himself living without sound – he’d probably go mad. 

Baekhyun suddenly wanted to do everything he could do get Jongdae some hearing aids ASAP.

Not wanting to disappoint Jongdae, Baekhyun began playing – a soft, tentative melody first, to test himself and the piano as he thought of a piece to play. 

The melody began to build up as Baekhyun made up his mind on what to play. It was song from one of the animes he had watched last year. He found it so beautiful when he heard it that he spent hours every day in Chanyeol’s studio, borrowing his keyboard just to learn it. 

His heart rose and fell with the rhythm and each pause made his breathing hitch, losing himself entirely to his playing. The build was lovely and bright, like he was telling the beginning of a journey of growing doing something you love. Images planted in his mind, of the anime itself, of his own memories and his own understanding of the song. 

Soon, his favorite part was coming up. After a series of complicated parts and difficult patterns the song slows and he feels like he’s gliding on ice and his heart slows with it. He hears nothing but the music his fingers play, nodding his head along to the beat. 

The song heads off to the end and Baekhyun swears his heart is pounding so hard others could hear it as he played the last notes. 

The song ends and Baekhyun almost forgets exactly where he is. The cheers and the applause of the other customers brings him back to reality of the café and Jongdae standing beside, clapping along with a huge smile on his face. 

Baekhyun smiled back, a bit flushed, his heart still pounding in his chest 

But maybe not just because he played the piano. 

Before he could think more on his feelings, Minseok approached them with their drinks and an impressed look on his face. 

Baekhyun stood up and smirked at Jongdae, who looked as out of it as Baekhyun felt, staring at him curiously. 

“Well, the drinks are here so, I guess show’s over.”

Jongdae must’ve understood because he subtly shook his head, as if shaking away a thought before grabbing his drink from the tray and smiling at Minseok. 

Baekhyun did the same. 

“I’m still speechless,” Minseok said as Baekhyun took the drink from the tray on his hands. 

Baekhyun laughed. “Thank you. I’ll come by to play more often.”

“Please.”

Baekhyun chuckled. 

Jongdae then grabbed his attention by tugging on his coat. Baekhyun looked at him and cocked his head, smiling kindly. 

“Walk with me?” Jongdae said. 

Again, Baekhyun’s heart raced at the sound of Jongdae’s voice. If he was acting like this from just hearing him speak, just how much exactly would he be flustered when he heard him sing?

Baekhyun’s responses ranged from “I’d love to” to “I’d go anywhere with you if you’d continue talking” but he settled for,

“Sure.”

Jongdae led him to the exit and both of them waved goodbye to Minseok which he returned with a cheery wave.The customers even went as far as to applaud one last time just as Baekhyun was walking out. He turned around and bowed a few times, a little red in the face. 

From the corner of his eye, he saw Jongdae snickering so he threw him a glare to which he responded by poking his tongue out. 

They walked to the park in silence, cupping their drinks in their hands. It was cold and the wind was blowing softly so Baekhyun was grateful for the warmth of the drink. He tried to remember what exactly he had ordered before remembering that he hadn’t ordered and that Jongdae had ordered for them. 

Curious, he took a sip. 

And was hit with the distinct taste of gingerbread and cinnamon. 

The taste was incredibly festive and was perfect for the winter. It made him think of warm nights cozying by the fire and reading a good book. 

He noticed Jongdae watching him for his reaction so he pretended to look a bit disgusted and he watched as Jongdae’s expression fall with disappointment. 

Baekhyun barked out a laugh and bumped their shoulders to get him to ease up. 

Jongdae looked at him and realized he was joking again, bumping his shoulder to Baekhyun’s too with a pout. 

“Yummy?” Jongdae asked. 

Baekhyun nodded, smiling. 

Jongdae beamed at him. 

The walk around the park was shorter than Baekhyun would’ve liked but it was getting cold and he really didn’t want to get sick for the sake of looking romantic. They “talked” (through text messages) about each other, like how many siblings they had, what they took in college, how their parents were. 

Baekhyun found himself talking about wanting a dog when Jongdae started to talk about his mom’s cat. 

A dog would suit you. Jongdae snickered. 

Why, is it because I look like one?

Yes, you do resemble a rather, cute, annoying puppy.

Baekhyun laughed at that. 

Soon, the sun started to go down and they’d been walking around for an hour, admiring the flowers that grew near the path. Baekhyun would ask now and again about what they meant and he’d nod his head when Jongdae answered, taking in the information. 

So you’re telling me that if I leave peas by your window, I’m actually asking you to meet you at midnight?

Well, not exactly at midnight but under the moonlight. 

Very poetic. 

Jongdae laughed out. 

 

“So, how was the date?” Yixing asked as Baekhyun walked into the living room, hanging his keys by his computer and slipping out of his coat. Jongdae was probably doing the same just a room away.

Yixing was sitting on one of the couches, his laptop open by his side while he scrolled through his phone. 

“It wasn’t a date,” Baekhyun said. “We just went to this café owned by one of his friends and walked around the park.”

“Minseok?” Yixing nodded to himself. “Remind me to go visit too sometimes. He’s a friend.”

Baekhyun raised his eyebrows but shrugged, plopping down on the couch beside Yixing and grabbing the TV remote. 

“Sure, we can go together. They have a really awesome grand piano there,” Baekhyun told him excitedly. 

Yixing chuckled. 

“You sound like you had a lot fun. I thought you wanted to watch a movie.”

“I didn’t really have anywhere I actually wanted to go to,” Baekhyun shrugged again. “I just wanted to go out.”

Yixing hummed in response.

Baekhyun’s stomach growled, making Yixing look at him in surprise before they laughed. 

“Do you want to go out to eat or do you just want to order take out?”

“I’ve been stuck inside for the whole day, I’d like to go out,” Yixing pouted. “But you’ve been outside this whole time, maybe we should just settle for take-out.”

“No! I’m fine. If you have somewhere you want to go, I’ll go with you,” Baekhyun smiled, already standing up. 

“Are you sure?” Yixing asked, standing up as well and moving toward the bedroom to probably grab himself a coat. 

Baekhyun grabbed the coat he had discarded to the side and the keys he had hung on the rack. 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun called out, shimmying into his coat. “As long as you pay.”

Baekhyun met Yixing’s playful glare with a mischievous grin when he exited the room, wearing a black coat over his clothes. 

“You should be glad I love you.”

 

The following week was filled with his friends coming and going into his apartment. He was riddled with work, finishing up what he could before the holidays. He spent the nights playing games and the days writing articles, reviews and whatever he was assigned to do. 

By the fifth day, his eyes were straining from staring at screens almost 24/7. 

He lay on the couch, his arm over his eyes.

He was taking a short break from all the writing and just wanted to take a short nap. 

Chanyeol and Yixing had gone out, leaving him alone in the apartment (not that he minded). 

He was just about to fall asleep when he his phone vibrated, signaling a message. 

Groaning, he rolled to his side and grabbed it from the coffee table. He squinted at the name of the sender before reading the message, trying to judge if the text was worth his time. 

It was from Chanyeol. Sighing heavily he opened it. 

IT”S SNOWING!!!

Baekhyun sat up at that, leaving him a bit dizzy but he glanced to the window excitedly. 

Was it really? 

He stood up when he felt steady enough and walked to one of the windows and indeed, falling softly from the sky was snow. The first snow. 

He rushed out of his apartment without even thinking twice, shoving his feet in a pair of loafers scattered by the door. He walked out of his apartment and straight into the one next to his. 

This past week, he and Jongdae had grown close enough to just stride into each other’s apartments as if sliding into the next room. 

Jongdae would bring him plants and flowers and Baekhyun would come over to his or invite him over to play games and have dinner (or lunch, depending on their availability).

They hadn’t had a chance to take another walk at the park Jongdae loved so much nor had they been to Minseok’s café but they were planning on going sometime next week, when all of them were relatively less busy. 

He barged into Jongdae’s apartment, yelling. 

“Jongdae! It’s snowing!”

“I know!”

Baekhyun froze in the living room. He hadn’t expected the response – he yelled specifically because he knew Jongdae wouldn’t hear him. 

Jongdae walked out of the room, probably just out of the shower basing on his shirtless torso and the towel he rubbed on his hair. 

Baekhyun didn’t know which to be startled with more; the fact that Jongdae had just responded or that Jongdae was standing in front of him right now, shirtless.

Jongdae laughed at his shocked expression. 

“Look, I got new hearing aids,” he exclaimed, pointing to his ears. Baekhyun tore his gaze away from Jongdae’s still slightly damp chest with everything he could muster and glanced at Jongdae’s ears. 

There were, indeed, hearing aids on both ears if you looked carefully.

“So, you’re telling me that you put in your hearing aids right after you got out of the shower but you couldn’t be bothered to put on a shirt?”

Jongdae rolled his eyes. 

“I finally get to hear again after months and you’re stingy about my being shirtless,” he walked back into his room, probably to go grab a shirt.

“That’s probably the longest sentence I’ve ever heard you say,” Baekhyun called out to him, plopping down on the couch and waiting for Jongdae to get dressed. 

“Do you have anything to do today, Baek?” Jongdae asked as he walked out of his room a few minutes later, this time with a rather elaborate outfit of a turtle-neck, a hoodie and a brown coat. 

Baekhyun eyed him. 

“Uh, no? Well, yes but they’re actually work for next week. I’m only trying to finish them this week, against my own moral code, because it’s Christmas in two weeks and I really want a break.”

Jongdae looked at him weirdly, an amused smile playing around his lips.

“What?” Baekhyun asked, feeling self-conscious.

“Were you always this talkative?” Jongdae teased.

It dawned on him that Jongdae had heard Baekhyun talk maybe even less than Baekhyun had heard Jongdae. 

Baekhyun grinned. 

“Worse.”

“That’s good,” Jongdae smiled. “I need to make up for all those months you apparently tried to get my attention by screaming at the top of your lungs?” 

“Who told you?” Baekhyun pouted.

“Yixing.”

“I’m kicking him out of the apartment,” Baekhyun muttered, making Jongdae laugh, the sound immediately warming Baekhyun up. 

“He could always stay with me,” Jongdae countered. 

“I think I liked you better when you couldn’t make smartass comments.”

Jongdae made a face. 

“Now, that’s a lie.”

“You’re right.”

Jongdae beamed at him and Baekhyun forced himself to roll his eyes. In all honestly, he loved that he could communicate better with Jongdae now. He had been trying to learn sign language for the past week through both videos and Yixing but nothing really beat talking to him.

He’d learn sign language for Jongdae, of course. Just, maybe not overnight. 

“So, why’d you ask me if I was busy?” Baekhyun asked as he watched Jongdae put on his shoes by the door from where he sat on one of Jongdae’s armchairs. 

“I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to buy Christmas decorations. I’ve noticed that your apartment is already decorated.”

“All thanks to Yixing and Sehun who insisted I needed to get into the holiday spirit.”

Baekhyun stood up and moved around Jongdae to go out into the hallway. 

“But, yeah, I wouldn’t mind going along with you. I’m in a desperate need of a break from writing anyway.”

“Okay, I’ll be right over in a few. You should get dressed,” Jongdae hummed. 

Baekhyun couldn’t resist. 

“You get your hearing back and the first thing you do is to ask me out,” Baekhyun tsked teasingly, standing out in the hallway. 

Jongdae looked only a bit flustered, whirling to look at Baekhyun.

“If I remember correctly, I’m not the one who initiated our first ‘date’.” 

“Oh, so, it was a date?”

“It wasn’t?” Jongdae challenged.

Baekhyun could hear his heart beating in his ears, loud enough that he was worried even Jongdae would hear with his new hearing aids. 

Baekhyun forced himself to chuckle. 

“It’s whatever you want it to be.”

 

They were on their way out half an hour later. 

Jongdae had hung out over at Baekhyun’s while he waited for him to finish getting ready. Baekhyun took a quick shower and bundled himself up in a thick sweater and a coat.

“You have a nice voice,” Jongdae joked when Baekhyun walked out of his room all ready to go. He had been singing in the shower like he always did. 

Baekhyun glared at Jongdae half-heartedly before going over to his rack of shoes and grabbing a pair of boots. 

“When are you going to let me hear you sing?”Baekhyun shot back as he slipped them on. 

“Hopefully soon,” was Jongdae’s only answer. 

They waddled over to Baekhyun’s car, their hands in their pockets as they admired the snowfall. They slid inside the car and Baekhyun wasted no time turning the heater on.

He was about to take his phone out to write a message for Jongdae before he remembered he no longer had to.

“I’m going to have to get used to you actually hearing me,” Baekhyun chuckled to himself, starting the car up. 

“I’m going to have to get used to actually hearing you after a few months of not. I’d forgotten how your voice sounded like.”

“And how does it sound like?” Baekhyun teased, wiggling his eyebrows at Jongdae as he put his car in reverse and drove out of his parking spot, an arm behind Jongdae’s chair. 

“Nice.”

Baekhyun snorted at that, putting both 

“Your voice sounds nice, too.”

Jongdae flushed with embarrassment. 

“I don’t hear you spouting poetry.”

Baekhyun grinned. 

“I don’t need to resort to it.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes at that, settling himself in the chair and putting his seatbelt on. 

“Where do you plan on buying your decorations?” Baekhyun asked as he drove along. 

“Just the mall. I already have a tree but all the decorations, like the Christmas balls and lights and whatever, I left at home.”

Baekhyun nodded wordlessly.

“You’re not going to make me carry all of those, right?”

Jongdae laughed. 

“We can split it.”

 

The trip to the mall was actually beneficial for both of them since Baekhyun had to buy gifts for the other guys too.

They’d agreed to hold their usual Christmas gathering before they went back to their respective homes and families at Baekhyun’s this year, both because it was already decorated and because Jongdae would be able to join in easily. 

Christmas songs were playing through the speakers of the mall and Jongdae hummed along as they walked down the aisles of the department store. Jongdae looked so happy to be able to hear again that Baekhyun began wondering how it must have felt to not hear anything at all. 

Baekhyun watched Jongdae choose between what decorations to hang, white Christmas lights or the red-blue-green ones, penguins, reindeers or polar bears with a smile on his face. 

Jongdae’s happiness was really contagious and soon they were laughing at each other’s jokes and stories. 

After Jongdae had picked out everything he thought he would need and paying for them, Baekhyun didn’t even have to be asked before he took 2 out of the 4 plastic bags. 

Jongdae stared at him. 

“Well, you did tell me we would split,” was the only thing that Baekhyun said, blushing a bit at the grateful smile Jongdae had given him. 

“Now, for the gifts!” Jongdae exclaimed.

“You’re way too excited for this,” Baekhyun chuckled. “Why don’t we drop these off at the car first? I expect there’ll be more bags to carry once we’re done with this.”

Jongdae nodded and they went along. 

Baekhyun was surprised that Jongdae planned on buying everyone who was going to the gathering a gift. 

“You don’t have to, you know,” Baekhyun informed him. “The guys wouldn’t mind.”

“I want to,” Jongdae said absent-mindedly, looking through the racks of sweaters, deciding which one would look best on Jongin. 

Baekhyun watched him with wonder before shaking his head and focusing on his own shopping. 

Maybe an hour later, they were finally done with buying the gifts but both had refused to buy their gift for each other while the other one was watching. 

Soon, they were walking back to the car, bags in their hands. They carefully placed those at the back of the car before settling themselves at the front. 

It was still snowing, much to Baekhyun’s joy. He took a moment to appreciate it falling all around outside before he started the car up. 

“You really love the snow, huh?” Jongdae mused.

“I do. I don’t know why, I just do,” Baekhyun said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“So,” Baekhyun began, stretching out his muscles before putting his seatbelt on, making Jongdae put on his own. “Back to the apartment?

“You don’t want to stay out longer and watch the snow?” 

“And catch a cold? Not really, no.”

Jongdae pouted before he straightened up excitedly. 

“Let’s go to Minseok’s.”

 

“You should play the piano again,” Minseok suggested, leaning forward on the counter where Baekhyun and Jongdae hung out on bar stools, waiting for their drinks. 

“Doesn’t anyone else play?” Baekhyun asked, turning around and eyeing the grand piano in the middle of the café. 

There were a lot more people there than the first time Baekhyun had gone and he felt a bit conscious at playing for such an amount.

“Oh, people do, like the occasional student that plays a few pieces or the children that come with their mothers and just try to have a go but you’re the first one that actually got applauded by the other customers.”

“You should have seen their faces,” Jongdae said, nodding. “They were completely enamored. I wish I could’ve heard it.”

“I’ll play it again for you if you want,” Baekhyun said without hesitation at the sight of the slightly disappointed expression on Jongdae’s face. 

Jongdae grinned at him and Baekhyun pouted. 

“You totally planned that, didn’t you?” Baekhyun sighed while Jongdae just shrugged his shoulders, the smile not leaving his face. 

He stood up and this time Jongdae didn’t follow – he could hear perfectly from where he was seated, thanks to his hearing aids. 

Jongdae gave Baekhyun a thumbs-up as he settled himself in front of the piano. He fixed the sleeves of his coat, adjusting it so that he could move his arms freely. 

He thought of the piece he had played just days ago and tried to imbed the notes and rhythm in his mind, feeling the eyes of some of the more curious customer’s on him. He could feel Jongdae’s attention from across the room as well. 

Baekhyun took a deep breath and began to play, falling into it as soon as the familiar sound hit his ears. 

This time he thought of flowers blooming despite the cold and chilly air, of winter walks at the park, of random Christmas shopping dates and library visits. 

The different images threw him off; it wasn’t what he usually thought of when he played that piece. Usually, he’d remember practicing in Chanyeol’s studio or the anime itself and how the characters danced but now someone else filled his mind. 

And as the song came to that familiar slow part that usually left him deaf to anything but his heartbeat he realized something that made him almost forget the next chords. He took another deep breath as the song began to build up again, not knowing what to do with this new information and how long exactly he had felt that way. 

His mind was as loud as the ending of the song, loud and messy in a good way. 

When the song ended, the crowd applauded as Baekhyun scolded himself, unable to look in Minseok and Jongdae’s direction.

What the hell was he thinking while playing? He frowned at himself. 

Yes, he’d always been attracted to Jongdae but he’d never really considered that he actually had any real feelings for him. 

Baekhyun pouted at the thought.

He was sure it wasn’t anything solid like love. It was there and he had learned to recognize it throughout the days and the time they spent together, fleeting and only showing itself when Baekhyun let his guard down. 

He was sure it wasn’t anything solid like love. 

Not yet, anyway. 

“What are you looking so sullen for? It sounded great!” Jongdae called out from his seat by the counter.

“I’m not looking sullen,” Baekhyun retorted lamely, finally meeting his gaze. 

There was nothing special in the look they exchanged but Baekhyun swore his heart raced faster at the sight of his usual warm smile. 

“You can play more if you’d like,” Minseok smirked. “Weirdly, your drinks are taking a long time to finish.”

Baekhyun glared at the older boy, making him and Jongdae laugh but he didn’t complain. 

He would like to play more. 

So, he ignored his revelation – tucked it away in his pocket for now – and thought of something to play. 

He faced back to the piano after making the decision. He hadn’t even noticed Jongdae approach. 

Baekhyun began playing the intro of the song and startled when Jongdae suddenly plopped down beside him on the bench and began singing. 

His fingers stuttered, probably like his heart did, but he didn’t stop playing. 

It was a sad song and Baekhyun didn’t even know why he decided to play it, he just did. 

But Jongdae’s voice was beautiful. And Baekhyun couldn’t get enough of it. 

He glanced at Jongdae and saw that he had his eyes closed as he sang. Baekhyun pressed his lips into a thin line and forced himself to focus on what he was doing. 

Jongdae’s singing wasn’t perfect, there were notes he missed but it was perfect enough. Soon, Baekhyun was humming along with him, a soft smile on his face that grew as the seconds passed. 

High notes that even Baekhyun found hard to sing were effortlessly reached by Jongdae and Baekhyun let out a little impressed laugh that made Jongdae glance at him and grin. 

The song came to an end and Baekhyun began immediately applauding with the other customers that were courteous enough to applaud. 

“Color me impressed, Kim Jongdae. I had no idea you could sing like that,” Baekhyun said, sliding back down on the bench, and twisting his body to the side so that he could look at Jongdae. 

He was glowing with happiness. 

“You played beautifully,” Jongdae said eye-smiling. 

Baekhyun looked at Jongdae, both amused and disbelieving. “I think I should be the one complimenting you.”

“You’re totally into each other, we get it,” said a familiar voice from the counter. Jongdae looked over Baekhyun’s shoulder and let out a laugh, not at all affected by what he said. 

Baekhyun turned around to see Yixing and Chanyeol sitting where they had been a few minutes ago, the drinks in their hands probably the drinks Baekhyun and Jongdae had ordered. 

Minseok and Yixing were talking with each other and Chanyeol looked at Jongdae in surprise. 

“You heard me?”

“I got my hearing aids this morning,” Jongdae said, standing up from the piano and approaching the trio. Baekhyun followed suit, kicking the bench back in its place. 

“Really?” Chanyeol asked excitedly. “That’s great!”

Yixing turned away from Minseok and looked at the pair of them. 

“Aw. Why’d you stop playing,” Yixing pouted at him. 

“Because I didn’t want you guys drinking up our drinks,” Baekhyun quirked an eyebrow at Chanyeol who had been lifting the cup with his name written on it on the side to his lips. Chanyeol smiled sheepishly in response. 

Baekhyun just rolled his eyes and nodded his head, giving him permission to drink. Chanyeol grinned before taking a sip. 

“What are you two doing here?” Jongdae asked Yixing, taking the drink Yixing handed to him. 

“Oh, I told Baekhyun I was going to visit sometime soon and I was already out with Chanyeol so I thought, why not?” Yixing shrugged before grinning. “What I didn’t expect was to see you two here, though.”

“We did a little bit of Christmas shopping,” Jongdae said. 

“I wouldn’t call that ‘a little bit’, my arms still hurt,” Baekhyun teased. Jongdae rolled his eyes but laughed. 

“What about you two?” Baekhyun asked Chanyeol. “Having a date?”

“We visited the studio. Yixing wanted to see it,” Chanyeol said. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve heard you play.”

Baekhyun knew his friend was changing the subject but he shrugged.

“Talent doesn’t fade,” he joked, looking at Jongdae all the while. 

 

They all went back to Baekhyun’s apartment an hour later. 

They had stayed over at Minseok’s café for an hour, having a little chat over coffee and taking turns going to the piano and playing a little piece. 

Chanyeol played Christmas carols and they all playfully sang along (keeping their voices a bit quieter than the first time after being glared at by someone who seemed to finishing up some work at one of the tables). Yixing played sweet tunes that had girls swooning over him, gushing at their tables. Baekhyun went up and played a few jazz songs and did another duet with Jongdae. 

Jongdae rode with Baekhyun in his car, Yixing in Chanyeol’s and 20 minutes later they were all sat in Baekhyun’s living room under the Christmas lights blinking away happily around his Christmas tree which already had gifts under it, thanks to Chanyeol and Yixing. 

Baekhyun and Jongdae had stashed all the unwrapped gifts in Jongdae’s apartment, Baekhyun swearing he’d help with the decorating maybe tomorrow. 

“So, dinner?” Chanyeol asked. “Who’s cooking?”

“You wanna risk calling Soo?” Baekhyun asked, smirking.

“Take-out it is, then,” Chanyeol said. 

Baekhyun let out a laugh. 

“Don’t you two know how to cook?” Yixing demanded, crossing his arms across his chest. “How have you guys even been surviving alone?”

“Cup noodles,” Chanyeol suggested. 

“Take-out,” Baekhyun added. 

“Fast-food restaurants.”

“Cereal.”

Jongdae and Yixing looked at the both of them, judging them with their eyes. 

“Kidding, kidding,” Baekhyun said, raising his hands in surrender. “I do know how to cook; I just don’t do it that often.”

“Not really,” Chanyeol muttered under his breath. 

They stayed silent for a few minutes. 

“You’re waiting for me to offer to cook, aren’t you?” Baekhyun sighed before standing up. “Fine.”

“I’ll help,” Chanyeol said in resignation. “If I don’t, Yixing might glare at me for the whole meal.”

 

Two days later, Baekhyun sat in the living room of Jongdae’s apartment, going through the decorations they had bought, categorizing them in his mind.

Jongdae was in the kitchen, preparing snacks for the both of them. 

Baekhyun had brought his Bluetooth speakers with him so he placed that on the coffee table and played soft songs just to avoid any awkward silences that may come between them. 

He’d been there more than a dozen times in the past week alone, just as Jongdae had been in his apartment, but weirdly, he felt more nervous than he had felt all those other times. 

“Where’s the tree?” Baekhyun asked as Jongdae came out of the kitchen, a tray of food in his hands. 

“It’s still in the closet,” Jongdae said, putting the tray down beside the speaker. “Wait a sec, let me just get it.”

Jongdae scurried away into his room. Baekhyun leaned forward and grabbed a cookie from the tray. He was munching happily on it when he heard a crash coming from Jongdae’s room. 

Baekhyun jumped to his feet, the cookie in between his teeth. 

“Jongdae?!” Baekhyun yelled, quickly dropping the cookie and rushing to the room. “Are you alright?”

Baekhyun barely even noticed the incredibly neat room, heading straight to the closet that had its lights on.

“I’m fine,” he called out. “The tree just –“

Baekhyun opened the door to the closet and found Jongdae sitting on the ground, a large box (which Baekhyun presumed was the tree), on the lower half of his body. 

“ – kinda fell on me,” Jongdae winced. 

Baekhyun bent down and lifted the box off of Jongdae and set it aside inside the bedroom before helping Jongdae unto his feet. Jongdae pushed himself off of the floor with a groan. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Baekhyun asked, worriedly looking Jongdae up and down. Baekhyun sat him down on the bed and gave him another once over.

“I’m okay,” Jongdae nodded. “My butt hurts though.”

Baekhyun let out a shaky laugh. 

“You should have asked for help.”

Jongdae waved him off, falling on his back on the bed with a soft sigh and stretching. 

“I thought I could handle it,” Jongdae pouted. 

Baekhyun sat on the bed by Jongdae’s legs that hung off the edge.

“Obviously, you couldn’t.” 

Jongdae sat up and came face to face with Baekhyun. 

His breath hitched at the sudden proximity and thoughts of pushing Jongdae back down on the bed filled his mind. Baekhyun took a deep breath before looking away.

“I swear I’m alright, stop worrying,” Jongdae smiled at him before standing up and walking toward the box and heaving it up. 

Baekhyun took it from him, ignoring Jongdae’s protests and carried it to the living room, to the area Jongdae had cleared for the tree. 

“You really should be careful next time,” Baekhyun scolded Jongdae, unable to say anything else. 

Jongdae snorted. “Yes, Mom.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and they began to work. First was to build the tree, spreading the faux pine needles and piling them on top of each other. Jongdae fixed the bottom and put a rug around the foot of the tree while Baekhyun stepped up on a chair and fixed the top at his insistence. 

“I’m not going to fall again,” Jongdae had said. 

“I’m here, it’s going to be impossible not to.”

Jongdae had the courtesy to blush just a little bit. 

Next was wrapping the lights around the tree – which was quite the experience since they got the lights and themselves tangled more times than they could count. 

Last was to hang up the ornaments Jongdae had from his parents and the ones he had bought. 

“This is going to be hell to remove when January comes rolling in,” Baekhyun joked. 

“If you’re going to help me again, I’m sure it won’t be as bad,” Jongdae shrugged. 

Baekhyun knew Jongdae only said it would be easier because he’d have help and not because he’d have Baekhyun by his side. 

When that was all done and they had hung up small stockings around the house just to make it just bit more festive, Baekhyun turned off the lights in the living room so they could admire the lights hung on the tree. 

Jongdae plugged it in and both let out exclamations of wonder and glee. 

Without turning the light on, relying on the Christmas lights and the soft, winter afternoon glow that came from the open windows, they settled down on the couch. 

Baekhyun, turning up the song playing through the speakers and grabbing a cookie, leaned heavily on the backrest, exhausted. 

He watched as Jongdae did the same but not before taking a picture of the tree. 

“Thank you for helping me,” he said turning to Baekhyun with a curled smile. 

“No problem. It came out really pretty, didn’t it? I swear it’s prettier than mine.”

They stayed silent for a few minutes, sitting in the comfortable presence of each other. Soon, the silence got to Baekhyun and he suddenly had the urge to confess under the beautiful lights of the Christmas tree. 

He turned to Jongdae, shifting his body to completely be facing Jongdae and Jongdae turned to him in response, cocking his head to the side. 

Baekhyun could feel his heartbeat race as a hundred scenarios run through his head. He didn’t even know if Jongdae felt the same way. 

But – it wasn’t entirely impossible. They’d been spending a lot of time recently, and Baekhyun had caught Jongdae staring at him too once or twice. 

Baekhyun made a face and Jongdae let out a little laugh. 

“Is something wrong? You look constipated,” Jongdae chuckled. 

“No, I just – well,” Baekhyun stuttered. He hated assuming and ending up wrong in the end. 

What if he had just been imagining everything going around between them and everything he felt was one-sided? He didn’t think he could handle getting rejected and seeing Jongdae every morning after and not get the urge to kiss the smile off of his face. 

Baekhyun looked at Jongdae, like really looked at him and wondered if he’d want anyone else as much as he wanted Kim Jongdae to be his in that moment.

Jongdae waited patiently for so long that Baekhyun feared that he already expected where this was going. 

But then why wasn’t he doing anything?

Baekhyun worried at his lip, considering and reconsidering what he was about to do. 

But then Jongdae glanced at his lips and took a sharp inhale before looking Baekhyun in the eye. Baekhyun’s heart skipped a beat at the look he found there. 

Just then, like a blessing from the heavens themselves, someone walked in, pouring in light from the hallway. Both of them whipped their heads to look at the door.

“Woah,” that someone stopped walking abruptly when he saw that the curtains shut and the lights were turned off. 

It was Luhan. 

His eyes widened when he saw Baekhyun and Jongdae on the couch, too close to be considered normal distance. His shocked expression changed into a smug smile. 

“I can come back later,” Luhan smirked. 

Baekhyun and Jongdae exchanged a glance, blushed, then swiftly moved away from each other. Jongdae flew to his feet, clearing his throat before smiling. 

It was forced, that much Baekhyun could see. Luhan switched the lights back on and he could see just how red Jongdae had become. 

He couldn’t blame him, Baekhyun’s heart hadn’t calmed down either. 

“Luhan! What are you doing here?”

“I came to invite you out for an early dinner. I’m going back to China for the holidays tomorrow,” Luhan said, walking further inside, the smirk still on his face. 

“But if you’re busy, I understand,” Luhan glanced at Baekhyun and Baekhyun could feel his face burn in embarrassment. 

“No, go ahead, Jongdae. We’re done here anyway, right?” Baekhyun said quickly, the words leaving his mouth. 

“I have work to do anyway so I’ll see you later.”

Baekhyun hastily walked to the door, smiling politely at Luhan as he passed him by, not able to look at Jongdae in the eyes. His heart crashed in his chest as he remembered just how close they were just a few minutes ago – just how much he wanted to hold Jongdae and kiss him then and there.

“See you,” Jongdae said slowly, as if unsure. 

Baekhyun raised a hand in farewell, not bothering to look back and heading straight for his apartment. 

The moment he closed the door, he banged his head on it. 

What the hell am I doing? Why am I acting like a hormonal teenager? Baekhyun scolded himself. 

“Baek, what are you doing?” Yixing peered at him from the living room. 

Baekhyun quickly straightened himself up, trying and failing to look composed. His shoulders slumped as he walked to one of the couches, plopped down on it and buried his head in his hands. 

“I really, honestly, don’t know,” Baekhyun muttered under his breath. 

 

The next day, Baekhyun was both relieved and disappointed that he didn’t get to see Jongdae since he was busy with his work at both the library and the flower shop and Baekhyun buried himself in his. 

Sehun and Jongin kept him company at the apartment while Chanyeol, Yixing and Kyungsoo went grocery shopping for tomorrow’s party. The gifts under the tree had been slowly piling up – even Jongdae’s gift for everyone else was already placed with all the others. 

The sound of the smashing of buttons of his console’s controllers and the occasional shout of victory from one of the boys filled the room. 

What Baekhyun did yesterday still played over and over again in his mind and every time it did he wanted to punch himself in the face. 

Yixing had asked him what had happened but Baekhyun had just brushed him off, saying he felt a bit tired from all the decorating. 

He was so embarrassed! 

He had run away as if he had gotten caught doing something he shouldn’t have. He bit his lip and the action made him remember how Jongdae had stared at him when he did the same yesterday. 

Now, he wanted to bury his head in a pillow. 

Baekhyun growled at himself.

Enough. 

Just act like nothing happened yesterday, that would be a lot easier than anything else.

He sighed, twisting his chair this way and that.

“Are you okay? You looked stressed,” Jongin looked at him worriedly. “Maybe you should take a break.”

Baekhyun gave him a half-smile, shaking his head. “I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“Uh-oh,” Sehun joked, making Baekhyun laugh.

“It’s a good thing we decided to get gifts for Jongdae too,” Jongin said, eyeing the gifts under the tree. “I never would’ve expected he’d buy us gifts too.”

“I advised him against it,” Baekhyun joked. “I wasn’t sure you were you going to buy him anything.”

“Where’s your gift for him, then?” Sehun questioned him. “I don’t see it wrapped under the tree.”

Jongin peeked and moved some of the gifts around, confirming what Sehun had just said. 

Baekhyun thought of his gift for Jongdae still in his room, unwrapped because he wasn’t sure if it was really what he wanted to give Jongdae or if it was too much. 

“It’s in my room,” Baekhyun simply said. “It’s already wrapped.”

They paused the game before standing up and stretching. Moving in sync, they started to clean up a bit, knowing well that the others would be home in more or less an hour. 

“What’s going on between you and Jongdae anyway?” Sehun asked. 

“Nothing,” Baekhyun answered bluntly. The word rang loudly in Baekhyun’s mind. It hit him clear as day how much he didn’t want that single word to be true. 

He inwardly winced at himself before sighing. 

He didn’t miss the look of pity Jongin threw his way. 

“Hey, what’s with that look?” Baekhyun demanded, narrowing his eyes at his younger friend. 

“What look?” Jongin said, his head cocked to the side innocently. Baekhyun rolled his eyes. 

“Nothing is going on between us,” Baekhyun repeated. He’d repeat it as many times as he had to, if it meant that the words would finally sink in.

“I think you’re being too hard on yourself,” Sehun suddenly said. 

“What?” Baekhyun looked at Sehun, a bit startled. 

“You look like you’re stressing yourself out too much, Baekhyun,” Sehun explained, sitting on the arm of the armchair closest to him. “I think Jongdae likes you enough.”

Baekhyun sputtered, turning red but it was no use trying to hide it from them. 

“Did you read my mind or something?” Baekhyun asked, peering at Sehun curiously. 

“No,” he said with a little laugh. “I’m just inquisitive.”

“And you’re like an open book, Baek,” Jongin added from behind. 

“Thanks,” Baekhyun scoffed. 

“So, different question,” Jongin continued, plopping down on the armchair Sehun perched himself on, both of them giving him their utmost attention. “What are you going to do about you and Jongdae?”

“And I swear if you say ‘nothing’ one more time, I’m going to march you straight to that flower shop.”

Again, Baekhyun was tempted to say ‘nothing’ because he really wasn’t the type to plan these things out. 

“I - ” Baekhyun started out slowly, trying to get his point across. The two leaned forward in anticipation. 

“I really don’t want to do anything. I just want to watch how things go.”

Jongin and Sehun groaned and rolled their eyes, throwing their hands in the air. 

“I guess it’s up to us, huh?” Sehun told Jongin, giving him a pointed look.

Jongin nodded solemnly. 

“What do you mean it’s up to you?” Baekhyun asked suspiciously. “I don’t want you guys to do anything. I mean it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Baek. We got this.”

And together they stood up and continued cleaning up with a different air of determination about them. 

 

It was after lunch and Baekhyun was waiting in the living room, watching the TV the next day. Baekhyun looked at the wall clock and wondered why the others weren’t here yet. 

By this time, Kyungsoo would’ve already been bustling around the kitchen and he and the others would’ve been fooling around. 

His doorbell rang just as he was about to pick up his phone to text Chanyeol. Turning off the TV, he walked over to the door and threw it open. 

“You’re - ” Baekhyun began loudly before choking on his words. He was supposed to say ‘late’ but his words died in his throat as he stared at Kim Jongdae waiting with his arm around a paper bag. 

“ – not who I was expecting,” Baekhyun finished lamely. 

They hadn’t seen each other since the other day when Baekhyun had walked out of his apartment, burning with embarrassment and determined to find a rock to hide under. 

Jongdae let out a little laugh that Baekhyun found that he missed. He wasn’t what he’d call dressed-up but he did look a bit formal in his sweater and coat, as if he had just been outside – his hearing aids placed snugly in his ears.

“Well, sorry to disappoint but Jongin said I had cookie duty with you,” Jongdae said, waving his paper bag in Baekhyun’s direction so he could see the contents. There seemed to be a box of cookie batter, some eggs and other various items for baking. 

Baekhyun stared at Jongdae in confusion.

“Cookie duty?”

“Yeah, they told me we had to bake the cookies before they arrive or else Kyungsoo would get mad,” Jongdae smirked at the thought. 

Idiots, Baekhyun thought to himself. Was this what they were talking about yesterday and why no one else had arrived yet?

“Aren’t you going to let me in?” Jongdae asked. 

Baekhyun worried at his lip before moving to the side and letting him through. 

“Let me take your coat,” Baekhyun said, absentmindedly holding his hands out. 

Jongdae gave him a weird look.

“Are you okay? Why are you being so formal?” Jongdae laughed. 

Baekhyun shook his head, waking himself up from his stupor at the sound of his laugh. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Baekhyun said, before raising his eyebrows at Jongdae. “Go and hang your coat on your own then.”

At that, Jongdae laughed louder. 

“There you are.”

They moved to the kitchen after that and Baekhyun laid out the ingredients Jongdae had bought on the counter. 

“You didn’t bring any flowers,” Baekhyun suddenly realized.

“What?” Jongdae asked from where he was washing his hands in the sink. 

“You usually bring flowers whenever you come over and you’d explain what they meant,” Baekhyun said, jerking his head in the direction of the vase with the most recent batch of flowers Jongdae had brought. 

Jongdae smiled at it while wiping his hands on the washcloth. 

“I didn’t know you had grown so fond of it.”

“It’s not that I grew fond of it. It’s just - ” Baekhyun couldn’t find any words to explain as Jongdae turned that smile of his in his direction and his heart began to beat loudly in his ears. Baekhyun couldn’t do anything but smile awkwardly back. 

“It’s just what?” Jongdae stepped a bit closer to him with a little mischievous glint in his eye. Baekhyun blinked in surprise at Jongdae’s sudden change in attitude.

It’s not the flowers I grew fond of. Baekhyun thought to himself but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. 

“It’s just that,” Baekhyun paused, “The flowers remind me of you.”

Okay, that was way worse. 

It was Jongdae’s time to blink in surprise before he burst out laughing. Soon, both of them were laughing at each other’s attempt to flirt and the atmosphere was lighter than it had been a few minutes ago.

“I had planned on bringing flowers, you know,” Jongdae said in a matter-of-fact manner. 

They had begun preparing the ingredients after the tension that hung in the air disappeared. 

Baekyun was measuring the flour and Jongdae was cracking eggs and whisking them in a bowl. 

Baekhyun had never been good at cooking but if he had the proper ingredients and there were instructions he could follow, he wasn’t too bad. Jongdae seemed the same. 

It was his first time baking cookies in this apartment, though. He usually did it with his mom and siblings when he wanted to, but normally he’d hover around the kitchen tasting the cookie batter as he went. 

“Oh?” Baekhyun hummed, concentrating on what he was doing. 

“But it might’ve made the other guys uncomfortable,” Jongdae mumbled. 

Baekhyun watched Jongdae from the corner of his eyes. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, hanging mistletoe in a house full of guys would’ve been pretty weird,” Jongdae gave him a pointed look and Baekhyun just laughed. 

“What are you talking about? That would’ve made the party even more fun,” Baekhyun grinned as Jongdae rolled his eyes. 

As Jongdae began to mix the ingredients along with a few more others, Baekhyun moved to pre-heat the oven.

“So, you’re saying that if it were only the two of us here, you would’ve brought mistletoe.”

“Definitely.”

 

“We’re here!” Chanyeol exclaimed, banging the door to Baekhyun’s apartment open. 

“Yay,” Baekhyun sighed half-heartedly, making Jongdae laugh beside him. 

Kyungsoo and the others strolled into the kitchen, bearing on their arms, a few more gifts and ingredients for cooking. 

“The cookies smell nice,” Yixing smiled at them. “Are they still on the oven?”

Jongdae and Baekhyun had finished putting the last batch in the oven just five minutes ago, the other two batches of cookies already cooling on the rack. 

Before the others arrived, they had just been talking and telling each other stories to pass the time. 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun answered, “We haven’t started decorating the ones done, though.”

“That’s fine. You can bring the cookies to the dining table to be decorated while Yixing and I cook in here,” Kyungsoo suggested, already pulling out various meats from the freezer. 

Baekhyun nodded and grabbed the bowl of sprinkles and the icing from the counter and brought them to the dining table where Jongin and Sehun were sat, talking about some incident that had happened at the mall. Chanyeol stood over Baekhyun’s speakers as he set it up to blast his favorite Christmas carols. 

“Cookie duty?” Baekhyun began as he set the bowls down on the table, “Really?”

The younger men shrugged in their seats.

“We were so sure we would find you two here making out or something,” Sehun grinned. 

“And what? Let the cookies burn?” Baekhyun scoffed. 

“You do know that there really wasn’t a “cookie duty”, right?” Jongin stated. 

“Yes, but Jongdae doesn’t know that!” Baekhyun whisper-shouted. 

Jongdae had stayed in the kitchen to talk to Yixing and watch over the rest of the cookies.

“It’s okay,” Chanyeol said as he approached them, having already successfully filling the apartment with soft Christmas tunes. “We have plan B.”

Jongin and Sehun nodded. 

“I don’t need a plan B. I’m perfectly fine with the way -,” Baekhyun stopped short when he saw what they pulled out from one of the paper bags. 

Mistletoe. 

“You do know that by hanging those around you risk yourselves kissing someone too, right?” Baekhyun smirked. 

The three of them nodded solemnly. 

“It’s a risk we’re willing to take,” Sehun said, nodding making the four of them laugh out loud. 

“What’s a risk you’re willing to take?” Jongdae suddenly asked, walking out of the kitchen with two trays filled with undecorated cookies shaped into various Christmas designs in his hands. 

“Let me help you,” Baekhyun muttered, taking the other in his own hands and placing them on the table. 

“Oh! Mistletoe!” Jongdae smiled brightly at the sight of the plant. “I was planning on bringing some, too.”

Sehun and Jongin exchanged knowing glances. 

“Why didn’t you?” Chanyeol asked, picking up a cookie and attempting to shove it in his mouth when he saw Baekhyun do the same. 

“Don’t eat the cookies before you even start decorating,” Kyungsoo scolded them from the kitchen where he couldn’t even see them. 

“How does he do that?” Baekhyun whispered, making the others laugh out loud. 

“We won’t,” Jongin yelled back, breaking one cookie in half and giving the half to a snickering Sehun. 

They all sat around the table and began seriously icing the cookies with different colors as they talked and joked around. 

“Where do you plan on hanging the mistletoe?” Baekhyun asked Chanyeol, popping a candy into his mouth. 

“Why? So you could avoid it with all night?” Chanyeol smirked. “I’m not telling.”

“I’m not interested in kissing anyone tonight, thank you.”

Now, that was a lie. He would very much like to kiss Jongdae tonight. It took everything in him not to look at Jongdae, who sat beside him. 

But even from the corner of his eyes, he could tell that Jongdae’s shoulders had sagged in disappointment. 

“Anyone but Jongdae, right?” Jongin asked, wiggling his eyebrows before barking out a laugh. 

Baekhyun didn’t even hesitate, feeling his face heat up and his heart beat faster.

“Right,” he mumbled, focusing all his attention back unto his cookie. 

Jongdae whipped his head to the side to look at him while the other boys guffawed and clutched their hands to their hearts, teasing them. 

Maybe he had crossed the line there but it was all worth it to see Jongdae just as flustered as he felt, a small smile on his face. 

 

After maybe an hour later, when the cookies were set and Jongdae had drifted back to the kitchen to help with the cooking, Baekhyun and the others lounged around in the living room and played games. 

Though, they did do some cleaning and fixing around the tree but other than that they all sat around the TV and took turns with the remote, two at a time. 

Baekhyun was so focused on beating Sehun that he almost didn’t notice Jongdae slip out of the apartment. 

“Where’s he going?” Baekhyun asked the boys around him, sparing a glance over his shoulder to watch Jongdae leave. 

“He said he had something to check in his apartment,” Jongin said and Baekhyun nodded absent-mindedly, focused on the game once more. 

Truthfully, Baekhyun thought the boys would tease him again and was glad that they didn’t and he appreciated that because, even if they did push the two of them together and encouraged Baekhyun to just go ahead and kiss Jongdae already, they still understand that in the end, it was Baekhyun and Jongdae’s choice. 

“Have you hung the mistletoe already?” Yixing asked Chanyeol excitedly, taking a small break from the kitchen to watch why exactly why the younger ones were so noisy. 

“Yep,” Chanyeol grinned up at Yixing. 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. 

Okay, maybe Baekhyun might’ve been giving his friends too much credit. 

“What if Kyungsoo and I end up under it, do I just have to kiss the top of his head?” Jongin joked, laughing all the while. 

“I heard that,” Kyungsoo called from the kitchen, his tone playfully irritated. 

Yixing chuckled but the four of them, Sehun, Jongin, Baekhyun and Chanyeol, looked at each other with shocked expressions on their faces. 

“How the hell does he always hear us?” Chanyeol whispered. 

Jongdae walked back into the apartment, looking a bit pleased with himself. 

Baekhyun and Sehun handed their controllers over to Jongin and Chanyeol after their round. Sehun stood up and stretched before stalking over to probably bathroom. 

Baekhyun, however, stood up and followed Jongdae and Yixing into the kitchen, keeping an eye out for the mistletoe. 

The warmth from both the stove and the over spread across the kitchen and the smell of a feast wafted all around. 

“Wow,” Baekhyun whistled. “It smells great, Soo.”

Kyungsoo just smiled big and nodded, incredibly proud of himself. 

Yixing went to grab the plates and utensils but Baekhyun quickly stopped him. 

“Let me help,” Baekhyun said, a smile on his face. Yixing nodded in thanks and left to get something from the fridge. Jongdae was grabbing glasses from the cupboard and balancing them on his arms. Their eyes met and they exchanged goofy grins before exiting the kitchen together to set the table. 

“So,” Jongdae began, making Baekhyun look at him. “I hope you have one hell of a gift for me because I bet you can’t top what I got for you.”

Baekhyun raised his eyebrows in surprise before smirking. 

“Oh? I’m pretty sure my gift for you could match up,” Baekhyun said, confident in the gift now sitting in its box, all wrapped and under the Christmas tree. 

Jongdae merely grinned, before pouting in doubt. 

“What if you end up not liking what I got you?” Jongdae wondered. 

“It’s a gift from you, how bad could it be?” Baekhyun smiled at him reassuringly. 

“So, if I ended up giving you like a book about whatever, you’d still like it?”

“Jongdae, you could give me a single sunflower and I’d cherish it forever. And I like reading books. Sometimes.” Baekhyun scrunched up his face, making Jongdae laugh.

“Now.” 

Baekhyun heard Sehun whisper from the living room. 

He and Jongdae turned around to see Chanyeol bounding over to them, making the both of them step back in surprise.

Chanyeol towered over the both of them with a smirk on his face. 

“Yeol, what the hell are you -,” Baekhyun choked on his words when he saw what exactly Chanyeol was holding high over them. 

“No way am I kissing you,” Baekhyun said, looking at Chanyeol before eyeing the mistletoe in his hand.

Chanyeol rolled his eyes while Sehun and Jongin barked out laughs behind him. 

“I knew he’d say that,” Jongin laughed out. 

“Not us, idiot. Never in a million years,” Chanyeol smiled, “It’s for you and Jongdae.”

Baekhyun risked a glance at Jongdae who was just as amused with the situation as the others though he looked like he was trying not to blush too much.

“Never in a million years? I’m hurt Chanyeol,” Baekhyun tried to joke but Jongdae had already stepped closer. 

Chanyeol stepped back, hollering with Sehun and Jongin, attracting the other two from the kitchen. 

“It’ll be quick,” Jongdae reassured him in a soft whisper, putting a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder and looking at him determinedly, as if there really weren’t a group of guys waiting for them to just kiss already. 

“Come on, it’s just a kiss.”

“You’re making it sound like you’re about to inject me,” Baekhyun muttered, making Jongdae laugh again.

The laugh that made Baekhyun close his eyes, think ‘fuck it’, and just bring their lips together. 

His first thought was that Jongdae’s lips were warm – as warm as the smiles he always gave. Next, was that Jongdae had pressed their bodies closer, his fingers in Baekhyun’s hair. The action made Baekhyun’s heart pound in his chest so much that he pulled away a bit breathless. 

He stared at Jongdae a bit shocked, only to see Jongdae looking away and biting his lip, trying to contain his smile. 

The cheers around them drowned out as Baekhyun stared at Jongdae up close. 

Wow, Baekhyun thought. His eyelashes are really long. 

Baekhyun brought his hand up to his mouth to hide his blushing face before letting out a little chuckle and pulling away from Jongdae’s embrace. 

“Happy?” Baekhyun demanded, whirling around to avoid looking at Jongdae any longer and instead glaring at Chanyeol. 

“I’m not the one who’s supposed to be happy,” Chanyeol smirked before walking away, pulling the other two with him. 

A bright smile on Kyungsoo and Yixing’s face, they went back to the kitchen and just like that everyone was acting normal again. 

Even Jongdae had begun arranging the table again. 

“How can you be okay with what just happened?” Baekhyun asked Jongdae, trying to keep his voice calm while he wiped the utensils before handing them to Jongdae to place on the plates. The longer he looked at Jongdae, the more he didn’t know what he wanted. 

He was somewhere between wanting to kiss him again and wanting to shove him away. 

Jongdae still had this smile on his face, probably amused with Baekhyun’s frustration. 

A smile began inching itself unto Baekhyun’s own face against his own will.

“Don’t tell me you planned that with them,” Baekhyun blinked at Jongdae disbelievingly. 

Meanwhile, Chanyeol, Jongin and Sehun had started the game up again, shouting loudly in the living room but Baekhyun had the feeling that one of them, if not all three, was still paying attention on their interaction and was just pretending to focus on the game. 

Jongdae lifted his gaze to Baekhyun’s and gave him a sheepish smile. 

“Yixing actually challenged me,” Jongdae let out a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “And I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been secretly, wanting to do that since a long time ago. I’m sorry if I stepped out of line and if you don’t feel the same. It was just – “

Baekhyun surged forward to peck him on the lips again both to shut him up and because he couldn’t not do it with the way Jongdae was talking with that small pout on his lips. 

“What makes you think I don’t feel the same?” Baekhyun said when he once again stepped away, a little smirk on his lips when he saw Jongdae scramble to get himself together after the short kiss. 

“Alright, we get it, lovebirds,” Kyungsoo said, coming through and putting the Christmas ham down on the table, Yixing following closely behind with more food. 

The delicious smell, it seems, attracted the others and soon all of them were gathered around the table. 

“Your turn,” Baekhyun whispered to Jongdae as they stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder, looking down at the table. 

“My turn to what?” Jongdae looked at Baekhyun confusedly. 

“To say Grace,” Yixing, who stood on the other side of Jongdae, said. 

“Mmm,” Jongdae hummed as he remembered, smiling. 

“Okay, then let’s all bow our heads.”

 

“I can’t believe you got me more socks,” Chanyeol glared at Kyungsoo as he sat in front of the Christmas tree, Kyungsoo’s gift for him in his hands.

“You should be thankful I even got you anything. And you always lose your socks after you do the laundry,” Kyungsoo said apprehensively. 

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes at Kyungsoo before shrugging. 

“Okay, true.”

Baekhyun snickered from where he perched on the arm of the armchair Jongdae had settled himself on. 

“Who’s next?” Sehun asked before munching on another cookie, already holding the small plushie similar to his own dog that Baekhyun had bought him on his lap. 

They had been giving each other gifts for the past hour. 

Some were useful and practical like the mouse pad Chanyeol had given Baekhyun or the shoes Yixing had given Jongin but some were given purely because the item had reminded them of their friend, like the cute, little cacti Jongdae had given Kyungsoo and the assortment of weird guitar picks Sehun had bought for Chanyeol. 

All in all, each and every one of them was more than satisfied with the gifts they had received from each other. Even Jongdae had a huge smile on his face, clearly not expecting that the others would give him gifts that were so in touch with the things he actually liked – knowing that they had only known each other for a few weeks. 

“Now, for the highlight of the night,” Yixing began, lifting a familiar looking box from its spot under the tree. “It’s time for these two to exchange gifts.”

Everyone turned to look at the two of them, chilling on the armchair. Baekhyun and Jongdae exchanged glances before letting out laughs. 

“You guys are making this into more than it is,” Baekhyun shook his head before taking the gift from Yixing’s hands and playing it around in his own. 

“So,” Baekhyun began awkwardly, looking Jongdae in the eye as Jongdae smiled at him, a challenging glint in his eye. 

“I got you this gift because you smile a lot and,” Baekhyun tried to explain himself and the gift he chose without stuttering. 

“You know, you don’t need to tell us why you bought the gift, Baek,” Chanyeol laughed. “You can just, like, literally hand it to him.”

Baekhyun glared at the taller boy who sat on the floor before handing the gift over to Jongdae who took it with a grateful smile. 

“Jerk,” Baekhyun muttered, making the others laugh around them and Jongdae just shook his head in amusement. “Whatever, I think you’ll get it anyway when you see what it is.”

Jongdae had begun unwrapping it slowly and carefully as if trying not to damage the wrapper. 

Everyone was uncomfortably silent as they watched him lift the lid off of the box. 

“Am I going to keep on opening boxes?” Jongdae threw Baekhyun an amused glance at the sight of another box inside the box. 

“No, that’s it. That’s the gift, the box.” Baekhyun smirked. 

Jongdae just chuckled and took the actual gift from the gift box – and gaped at it. 

“A camera?” Jongdae stared at Baekhyun in surprise. 

Baekhyun gave Jongdae a half smile as he once again, perched on the arm of Jongdae’s seat. 

The others sat up to take a look. 

“Not that I don’t absolutely love it. But why did you decide to get me a camera?” Jongdae looked up at Baekhyun with curiosity shining in his eyes. 

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Baekhyun glanced at Chanyeol, making him shrug.

“The first thing I liked about you was your smile and I noticed how, amazingly, when you smiled, the people around you would usually smile as brightly, including me. I kinda just figured, maybe you’d like to capture those moments for yourself. Even when you barely talked – “

Baekhyun scrunched up his face, struggling to explain exactly why he had gotten Jongdae a camera. 

Yixing laughed. 

“Okay, okay. I think he gets it, Baekhyun,” Sehun snickered. 

Jongdae nodded, a small smile on his face. 

“I get it,” Jongdae laughed as he stood up. “Also, these flowers at the bottom of the box. These are geraniums aren’t they?”

Baekhyun flushed but nodded. 

“When someone gives their lovers geraniums specifically like these it means that they’re asking them to smile,” Jongdae said, obviously happy at the detail. 

“Thank you 

“Could you set it up for me? I’d like to take a picture of your reaction when I give you my gift. Let me just get it.”

He handed the camera to Baekhyun and as their hands touched, Baekhyun felt Jongdae tap his wrist, making Baekhyun look him in the eye.

Jongdae tried to convey just how thankful he actually was as he smiled warmly at him and Baekhyun was suddenly reminded of the weeks when Jongdae still didn’t have his hearing aids, where they’d just communicate through looks and notes and smiles. 

It warmed Baekhyun’s heart enough that he smiled at him too. 

“Is the gift a kiss? Because you two have been staring at each other for a minute, now,” Kyungsoo joked, holding a crumpled ball of gift wrap in his hands.

The others had begun tidying the living room a bit, picking up trash here and there and admiring the gifts they had each received, the mood jolly and warm. 

“That could be part of it,” Jongdae chuckled and winked at Baekhyun before moving around the armchair to go to his own apartment, where Baekhyun assumed he had left the gift. 

“You didn’t trust us not to look?” Jongin called after him, a grin on his face. 

The sound of everyone’s laughs and chuckles filled the room. 

Baekhyun grinned as he took the camera out of the box and began checking the settings and readying it for Jongdae. 

“Here, give it to me,” Chanyeol held his hands out. “I want to capture the exact look on your face when he comes in with a sex toy in his hands.”

Baekhyun sputtered and elbowed Chanyeol in the ribs as he burst out laughing. 

“Fuck you,” Baekhyun guffawed with him but handed the camera nevertheless. 

Chanyeol played around with it as Baekhyun began arranging the pillows on the sofa just to have something to do while they waited for Jongdae. 

“Oh, he’s here,” Yixing said, twisting around his seat to look at Jongdae walking through the door. 

Baekhyun looked up from where he was bent down to pick up boxes on the floor. 

“You got me a basket?” Baekhyun approached Jongdae with an amused smile on his face, Chanyeol following behind with the camera ready in his hands. 

“Is this payback for the boxes?” 

“You could say that,” Jongdae laughed. 

But as Baekhyun got close enough, he realized that the basket wasn’t the gift (obviously) but rather what was in it. 

A gasp tore out of Baekhyun’s throat at the sight of the small corgi dozing inside the basket. 

“Oh my god,” Chanyeol gasped, too, lowering the camera to take a closer look. 

“Okay, my gift definitely pales in comparison,” Baekhyun whispered, gingerly picking the corgi out of the basket. 

He felt Chanyeol beside him lift the camera and start to take pictures and at the back of Baekhyun’s mind, he mused at the thought that the first picture in the new camera would be a picture of Baekhyun lifting the puppy up, a look of amazement on his face and wondered if he somehow looked stupid. 

But the thought quickly left his mind as he brought the puppy closer to him as it blinked slowly, waking up from the nap it was taking. 

It let out a small bark and Baekhyun smiled widely. He cooed at it and swayed it side to side. 

“Thank you,” Baekhyun whispered, cradling the dog as he smiled at Jongdae, his heart swelling. 

Jongdae laughed out a ‘you’re welcome’ before putting the basket down. 

They walked to the living room and Baekhyun asked him how he even got a corgi. Jongdae explained that it was up for adoption and it instantly reminded him of Baekhyun and had gone through the story of how he had asked Luhan to take care of it for a few days so that Baekhyun wouldn’t hear it barking in the night and ruin the surprise. 

“Thank you really,” Baekhyun said again, smiling down at the puppy he had set down on his lap as they sat down on the couch. Chanyeol handed the camera to Jongdae as he began making faces and sounds at the puppy.

“What? What did Jongdae give Baekhyun?” Jongin came strolling in from the kitchen, plopping down on the floor in front of the three of them, looking at the three of them before focusing on the corgi resting on Baekhyun’s lap. 

“YOU GAVE HIM A DOG?” Jongin shouted, ecstatic, leaning forward to take a closer look. 

Sehun and Yixing walked over at the sound of Jongin’s shout, letting out sounds of surprise at the sight of the puppy. 

Baekhyun finally let it down on the floor slowly so the others could play with it. The sound of its paws on the floor, one of the cutest things Baekhyun had ever heard. 

Sehun, Yixing, Jongdae and Chanyeol surrounded the corgi but gave it enough space to walk and look around, cooing at it and calling its attention. 

Baekhyun turned to Jongdae to thank him again but blinked in surprise to see that Jongdae had pointed the camera at him. 

“Smile,” Jongdae sang, handing Baekhyun a geranium from the box. 

He took it from him – and Baekhyun tried to muster every joy in his heart and adoration for Jongdae into that one smile. 

After taking the picture, Jongdae lowered the camera and stared at Baekhyun with wonder in his eyes, and leaned in slowly. 

Baekhyun reached out at the same time, resting his hand on Jongdae’s cheek as he leaned in for that kiss. 

And this kiss was deeper and more meaningful than the previous pecks they had exchanged under the mistletoe. Baekhyun felt his skin grow hot and beg for more contact but the thought of his friends just a few feet from them made him pull away and instead press his forehead against Jongdae’s. 

He hadn’t even noticed that he had closed his eyes during the kiss and when he opened them again, he saw Jongdae looking at him, his eyes crinkled at the sides as he smiled the most heartbreakingly beautiful smile Baekhyun had seen on him. 

Baekhyun smiled in return, softly and gently. 

They pulled away from each other and Baekhyun thought he might actually whine at the loss of contact, so he slid the hand had on Jongdae’s cheek to Jongdae’s hand and gave it a squeeze. 

“What are you going to name it?” Yixing asked, finally turning around to look at the pair of them. 

None of them had noticed the kiss but he saw Yixing glance at their intertwined fingers and Baekhyun could swear that he saw both pride and happiness flash in his eyes. 

Baekhyun shrugged at the question. 

“I’ve still got to think about it.”

He gave Jongdae’s hand another squeeze before letting go, sitting up and whistling. 

The corgi turned from where he was perched on Chanyeol’s lap and bounded over to Baekhyun, its tongue out. It had obviously woken up from its sleepy state and was now an energetic ball of fluff, willing to run round and round. 

“He reminds me of you,” Jongdae laughed as Baekhyun picked the dog up and brought it closer to his face to stare at it. 

The others stood up from the floor and brushed themselves off, seemingly getting ready to take off. 

“Of course, he does.” Baekhyun grinned, turning the corgi around so it’s back faced Baekhyun. He showed it to Jongdae. “He’s got a nice butt like I do.”

As one, everyone in the room, probably even Kyungsoo in the kitchen, snorted. 

 

After an hour of cleaning up, more talking and not too much drinking (because some of them had to drive home), Chanyeol, Jongin, Sehun and Kyungsoo began picking up their coats and bags of gifts. 

And as Chanyeol approached Yixing to talk about something or probably just to say goodbye, Baekhyun slunk over to Sehun’s side. 

“Hold the mistletoe over those two,” Baekhyun whispered. 

“What?” Sehun looked at Baekhyun in confusion but there was a hint of mischief in his features. 

“I know you have the mistletoe somewhere on you. I saw Chanyeol hand it to you awhile ago.”

Baekhyun had carefully watched as the others passed the mistletoe around after they had started to stand over him and Jongdae whenever they stood together and hold it over them, forcing them to kiss. 

And though Baekhyun was a bit grateful for the amount of kisses he had, he wasn’t about to let them all leave without at least one of them kissing. 

“You do know that Chanyeol could just tackle me to the ground,” Sehun said, even as he started taking the slightly worn out mistletoe from his coat pocket. 

“Well, I’d do it, myself, but seeing as I’m not tall enough,” Baekhyun said grudgingly, trailing off. 

Sehun snickered. 

“Fine.”

He walked over to Chanyeol and Yixing, swinging a friendly arm over Chanyeol’s shoulder, as if asking a question. 

“What do you want?” Chanyeol grumbled. 

Sehun laughed, pretending to act offended. 

“Wow, I can’t even say goodbye to Yixing? Is he yours now?” Sehun raised an amused eyebrow. 

Chanyeol flushed scarlet as Yixing just let out a laugh, rolling his eyes. 

“Well, anyways, Merry Christmas,” Sehun grinned at the both of them, taking the mistletoe out of his pocket and raising it above the pair’s heads. 

Just then, Jongdae, Kyungsoo and Jongin, the latter two about to bid their goodbyes before noticing what Sehun was doing. 

“What’s happening?” Jongdae asked as he approached. 

“I’m getting payback,” Baekhyun grinned, grabbing Jongdae’s arm and pulling them over to Sehun just to tease Chanyeol. 

Jongin and Kyungsoo followed suit, chuckling all the while. 

“Doesn’t feel good to be the one being forced to kiss while others are watching, huh, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun jeered. 

Chanyeol sent him a glare that had them all laughing. 

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Yixing stepped forward, grabbed Chanyeol’s cheeks and pulled him down for the kiss. 

Baekhyun and the boys hollered, Kyungsoo, a bit tiredly, swinging his scarf around. 

It was little more than a peck and both pulled away faster than Baekhyun and Jongdae had. 

Chanyeol looked away, his whole face red as Yixing chuckled. 

“Now that the show’s over, we should be going,” Kyungsoo said, smiling and shaking his head. 

Sehun high-fived Baekhyun as he passed, laughing all the while. 

Chanyeol, still red in the face, Sehun, Kyungsoo and Jongin all walked out the door, bidding goodbyes and greeting them “Merry Christmas.”

“See you,” Baekhyun grinned at them, winking when Chanyeol turned to glare at him over his shoulder. 

“Don’t pretend you aren’t incredibly happy right now,” Baekhyun called out. 

He saw Chanyeol roll his eyes before grinning and raising a hand in goodbye. 

“Merry Christmas,” Chanyeol called back. 

“Merry Christmas,” Baekhyun shouted to all of them.

“Bye,” they said. 

Jongdae joined him out in the hallway, the dog he still hadn’t named in Jongdae’s arms, squirming around. 

“Good night,” Jongdae said, handing him the dog. 

“Thank you so much for the camera,” he added. “I love it lots.”

“Thanks for the dog,” Baekhyun said, letting out a breathy laugh, lifting it for emphasis. 

“And the flowers,” Jongdae said, reminded of the flowers at the bottom of the box. 

“You’re very welcome,” Baekhyun inclined his head a bit, a smile playing around his lips. 

“And the kisses,” Jongdae chuckled out, biting his lip a bit. 

“Would you like some more?” 

Jongdae laughed, before kissing Baekhyun on the cheek. 

Baekhyun warmed at the feeling of Jongdae’s lips on his skin, and he was pretty sure if it weren’t for the dog in his arms, he would’ve pulled Jongdae into his arms and wouldn’t have stopped kissing him. 

“Goodnight,” Jongdae said again, petting the dog. 

“Goodnight,” Baekhyun said. 

 

Two weeks later 

“You’re acting like you haven’t seen him in years,” Yixing laughed from where he sat at the table beside Chanyeol. Both had their laptops out, working on some music. 

“It’s just been two weeks Baek. Barely even,” Chanyeol said. 

“Yeah, I know, but I can’t help but feel nervous,” Baekhyun said, spinning round and round on his desk chair after winning another game. 

“It’s not like you two didn’t talk the whole time,” Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun weirdly. 

“We texted each other a lot. But nothing more than that.”

Yixing nodded, probably remembering how Baekhyun was acting during that week at his parents’. 

Yixing had gone home to China for a week and spent another with Baekhyun over at his parents’ house. They welcomed him in with open arms. 

The two of them had been at the apartment for two days, Jongdae only arriving later that evening and Baekhyun had no idea how to act. 

“No FaceTimes, video calls or even just a call?” Chanyeol questioned him, looking at him weirdly. 

Baekhyun just shook his head. 

Somehow all of those were too much for Baekhyun (not at all in a bad way; just that he wouldn’t even know what to say).

“You haven’t seen him since the day after the party?” Yixing asked, standing up to probably get something to drink.”Didn’t you ask me for his address?”

“Well,” Baekhyun trailed off. 

Baekhyun had, actually. 

Seen Jongdae.

But only once over the two weeks.

Baekhyun had woken up early on the day after despite celebrating late into the previous night with his family. He hated waking up early, Christmas morning or not. 

But he couldn’t bring himself to go back to sleep so he sat up on his sheets, yawning and ruffling his hair. A soft, cold breeze blew in through his slightly open window, making him shudder and wrap his blanket around his shoulders. 

His eyes searched the floor for his slippers, unwilling to tread his bare feet on the cold floor, but they landed on the small corgi sleeping in its basket-turned-cot and he was suddenly hit with overwhelming want to see Jongdae. 

To see him smile.

Baekhyun wondered how it would feel like to wake up to that smile, glancing at the empty space beside him filled only with a pillow and crumpled sheets. 

And somehow, looking at that empty space, he managed to spur himself into action. Pushing out of bed and disregarding the coldness of the floor, Baekhyun grabbed his towel and ran to take a quick shower. 

His dog was already awake by the time he had finished his shower, waiting for him and wagging its tail by the door to Baekhyun’s room. 

Baekhyun smiled down and made faces at it as he changed into warmer clothes. 

“I’ll get some food for you later,” Baekhyun had said to him. 

First, he had to call Yixing up. 

“Xing!” Baekhyun had shouted the moment his friend answered. Mongryong, his dog, barked at the noise. 

“Baekhyun?” Yixing’s sleepy voice came from the phone. “It’s so early. What do you want?”

“Do you know where Jongdae lives?” Baekhyun asked as he went to grab his sneakers, Mongryong trailing around his ankles. 

“What?”

After Baekhyun had explained what he wanted to do, Yixing tiredly gave the address to Jongdae’s house. 

“Why couldn’t you just ask him himself?” Yixing said amusedly. 

“What would be the fun in that?” Baekhyun had responded. 

They had greeted each other a “Merry Christmas” and exchanged “see you soon”s before ending the call. 

“Come on, Mongryong. I’m gonna feed you some breakfast and then Daddy’s gonna get himself a boyfriend.”

Mongryong barked in what sounded like agreement. 

Baekhyun, after telling his mom that he’d be back tomorrow morning and leaving Mongryong in the care of his brother, almost ran to his car, shivering all the while. 

Once he had settled himself in the car and started the engine, he quickly turned on the heater and waited for the whole car to warm up, setting up the GPS on his phone all the while. 

Jongdae’s parents’ house was a four hour drive away from where Baekhyun was. 

Baekhyun sighed, wondering to himself if he was actually ready to drive for four whole hours without anyone to keep him company. 

But the thought of Jongdae’s bright smile and even brighter laugh was more than worth it. 

So, Baekhyun had buckled his seatbelt on and readied his driving playlist. 

 

He had stopped only once, to fill up his gas tank. He was doing just that when his eyes travelled to the gas station’s convenience store and an idea filled his mind. 

A smile playing on his lips, he finished filling up the tank and walked to the store to pay for both the gas and the funny gift. 

But when his GPS had signaled that he was getting close, Baekhyun started to feel slightly nervous.

What would he even say? 

Would Jongdae be happy to see him or would he be weirded out? 

Baekhyun tapped his fingers against the wheel as he drove, singing with the song playing through his car’s speakers. 

When he reached the city where Jongdae lived, something caught his eye as he drove by. 

It was a flower shop. 

Baekhyun quickly found a parking spot in front of what seemed like a bank and pulled over. He grabbed the jacket he had discarded in the hours he had driven and exited his car. 

If he couldn’t find anything to say then maybe he could say it the way they had been silently exchanging messages throughout the month. No one really noticed but they courted each other through those flowers, though they did frequently use “learning the language of flowers” as an excuse to ignore the small implications of the flowers they would give each other. 

Baekhyun readily admits that he probably learned more about talking through flowers more than sign language and someday he’ll have to make up for that but for now flowers would have to make do. 

So he had sat in his car for probably more than 10 minutes, the bouquet and the peas on the seat beside him. During the long hours of driving and running his hands through his hair as he thought about the possible scenarios that could go down between them over and over again. 

He looked into the rearview to check his appearance and indeed he looked haggard; his hair all fluffed up and his nose a bit red. 

Maybe he should just back out, he thought over and over again. 

The house where Jongdae had probably grown up in, near Yixing’s own house was literally a street away. 

It was a little past lunch and Baekhyun hadn’t even considered that Jongdae might’ve gone out with his family or his own hometown friends. 

Baekhyun rested his forehead on the wheel, letting out a frustrated sigh. 

They’d kissed more than a couple of times already and yet Baekhyun couldn’t bring himself to call or just text Jongdae that he was literally right outside his door. 

Sitting up straight, he took a deep breath and pulled his phone out of his pocket to send Jongdae a text with a half-assed explanation for why exactly he was sitting inside his car right in front of his house – with a bag of peas and a bouquet sitting in his passenger’s seat.

Just as he was about to type something down, someone knocked on the glass of his window, making him look up in curiosity. 

To see Jongdae smiling down at him, amused and surprised to see Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun froze in his seat, staring up at Jongdae stupidly; his heart beating obnoxiously loudly in his chest. 

Jongdae pointed down toward the car door lock and it took Baekhyun a second to understand that Jongdae wanted him to unlock it so he could open the door for him. 

Baekhyun unbuckled the seatbelt at his side and unlocked the door, trying to step out of the car while covering the “gifts” he had brought with his body as Jongdae opened the door for him. 

He slipped out of the car, closing the door behind him as he smiled at Jongdae as it was Jongdae’s turn now to stare at him. 

“What are you doing here?” Jongdae asked him, blinking and looking at him from different angles as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. 

“I wanted to see you,” Baekhyun just blurted out, having a split second argument in his mind whether to say that or ‘I missed you’.

Jongdae blushed a bit (but that may be just because of the cold). 

“Well, you’ve seen me,” Jongdae said, tilting his head to the side and smirking. “Now, what?”

Baekhyun pouted at him, feeling all his previous nervousness wash away. 

“You won’t even say you missed me too?” 

Jongdae just grinned. 

“I saw your car through the window and I had to rush to my room and put in my hearing aids before coming outside,” Jongdae proceeded to tell Baekhyun. 

“Well, I just drove 4 hours just to get here so let’s not compare who had do more, huh?” 

Jongdae threw his head back and laughed. The sound warming Baekhyun’s heart, as it always did. 

“Okay, you win,” Jongdae grinned. “Did you bring me a gift?”

“I am the gift,” Baekhyun dead-panned, before smiling along with Jongdae. 

“I can’t say I complain.”

Baekhyun let out a small laugh, shaking his head before opening the door to his car, ducking inside and grabbing the items he had left. 

He handed the bouquet over first. 

“Merry Christmas,” Baekhyun muttered, seeing Jongdae’s flustered face as he saw the flowers and understood the meaning. 

“They didn’t have a flower that said ‘I like you’. They weren’t nearly as well-stocked as the shop you work in and some flowers out of season. I got the next best thing,” Baekhyun explained, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. 

He had gotten Jongdae tulips. 

A symbol of fresh and blooming love. 

Jongdae’s eyes sparkled in disbelief as he tried to hide his slightly red face behind the red tulips. 

“Remind me to get you a response,” Jongdae murmured. 

Baekhyun bit his lip to reign in his grin at the cute reaction. 

“Are those - ” Jongdae began, amusement lining his tone. Baekhyun saw Jongdae glance at Baekhyun’s other hand which held the bag of peas. 

“Peas?” Jongdae laughed out, reaching out for it as Baekhyun reluctantly handed them over. 

“Remember what you told me when we were taking a walk at the park beside Minseok’s café?”

Jongdae scrunched up his face as tried to remember before letting out another chortle. 

“Meet me under the moonlight, right? You do know that there are flowers that are actually called peas.”

Baekhyun merely shrugged, a bit amused with his own humor.

“At least the message is clear.”

Jongdae nodded, holding both with one hand, freeing the other to reach out to touch Baekhyun’s cheek and pull him in for a kiss. 

Baekhyun smiled into it, pleasantly surprised as Jongdae took the initiative to deepen the kiss. 

When Jongdae pulled away, there was a little pout on his lips that Baekhyun wanted to kiss away again.

“Sorry, that’s all I have for you right now. Merry Christmas,” Jongdae said sheepishly. 

“It was perfect,” Baekhyun smiled at him. 

“Lock your door first, I’m taking you inside,” Jongdae said, shivering as a particularly cold breeze blew through. “It’s freezing.”

Baekhyun did as he said. 

“Since the moonlight is still a few hours away,” Jongdae began after Baekhyun had made sure his car was secure, grabbing his cold hand in his. “Why don’t you come in, first? You can meet my parents and my cat.”

Baekhyun cringed. 

“I don’t think I’m even remotely ready for that,” Baekhyun said, squeezing Jongdae’s hand as he led him across the road and toward his house.

“Oh, please,” Jongdae said, waving Baekhyun’s worries away. “It’s gonna be fine.”

How could Baekhyun say no to the smile Jongdae threw his way. 

“Fine,” Baekhyun sighed.

 

“Are you just going to continue to stare off into space?” Chanyeol waved his hand over Baekhyun’s face, bringing him back to the present.

Baekhyun blinked rapidly before pushing Chanyeol’s hand away. 

“I visited him once over the holidays,” Baekhyun said, standing up from his chair and stretching. 

“When’s he coming back?” Yixing asked from where he still sat at the dining table, Chanyeol slipping back unto his seat beside him. 

“In a few hours, I think,” Baekhyun said, wondering for himself what time Jongdae would be back.

Yixing nodded.

“I’m sure by now you’ve established what you are to each other,” Chanyeol said, giving Baekhyun an amused pointed look. 

Baekhyun shrugged. Basing on the amount of things they had told each other that night and the kisses they exchanged, it would be pretty safe to say that they were dating. 

“Finally,” Yixing sighed, grinning at Baekhyun. “I’ve been trying to set you two up since forever.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, I definitely didn’t notice.”

“Well, I succeeded, didn’t I,” Yixing stuck his tongue out at him just as someone knocked on the door. 

Baekhyun tried not to look as if he was rushing over to check who had arrived. 

“You’re welcome,” Yixing called from behind him, Chanyeol’s rumbling laugh following. 

Baekhyun threw the door open, not even stopping to consider that someone else might’ve been behind it. 

Thankfully, it hadn’t been. 

“Hey,” Jongdae said; the smile Baekhyun had grown to love already spread across Jongdae’s face.

“Hey,” Baekhyun said back. 

They stared at each other and soon the sound of Mongryong’s footsteps across the floor reached them and he proceeded to play around Baekhyun’s ankles. 

That effectively broke the silence between the two. 

“When will we ever just say ‘Hi’ casually to each other without having to pause in complete silence,” Jongdae laughed. 

“Probably when you’re no longer shocked by my good looks. Which is probably going to be never,” Baekhyun grinned, moving to the side to invite Jongdae in. 

Even Mongryong made way. 

“I got you these by the way,” Jongdae said, handing him a small bouquet of pansies. 

Think of me. 

“Always,” Baekhyun smiled softly, pecking Jongdae’s lips. 

“Look at you two,” Chanyeol said as the both of them walked into the room, dropping Jongdae’s bags unceremoniously on the floor. “ – Acting disgustingly sweet.”

“As if you and Yixing don’t act the same way,” Baekhyun scoffed. 

“Hey, Xing,” Jongdae greeted Yixing, letting the two bicker away. 

“Hey, Dae.”

 

A few months later 

The cold had finally blown away and with it all awkwardness between Baekhyun and Jongdae.

They were currently in Jongdae’s apartment, slowly turning into their apartment, the Christmas tree they had set up already long gone. 

Baekhyun would’ve moved in with Jongdae long ago but with Baekhyun’s computer and Jongdae’s plants, they really wouldn’t be able to fit everything into one apartment so they were looking into other options. 

But, right now, neither had any work to do and we’re just enjoying each other’s company.

Bakehyun was currently scrolling through his phone, softly humming along to a song in his head. He had actually wanted to use his laptop but that would’ve proved a bit difficult with Jongdae napping with his head on Baekhyun’s lap.

And he really didn’t want to wake him up just yet. 

So, Baekhyun scrolled on, humming to himself and stopping suddenly when he saw Mongryong wake up from his own nap and jump out of his basket. 

He approached Baekhyun, his tail wagging high in the air. 

“Shh,” Baekhyun said softly, running a hand through Jongdae’s hair, caressing him again and again as Baekhyun tried to convey his message to be quiet to Mongryong through his eyes. Even if he knew Jongdae didn’t have his hearing aids in. 

He worried the dog might suddenly jump unto Jongdae’s stomach or something. 

Mongryong just panted with his tongue out, tilting his head at Baekhyun as if expecting something. 

“I’ll feed you later, kay?” Baekhyun whispered. 

Mongryong, probably understanding that he wouldn’t be given food, trailed off – his feet softly tap-tapping across the floor. 

Baekhyun’s days were mostly filled with the both of them, Jongdae and Mongryong (and, of course, the random visits of his friends at the most random of times).

He smiled as he looked down to stare at Jongdae’s sleeping face – to admire his long lashes, his high cheekbones, those curled, kissable lips that could bring him happiness with a single smile. 

He looked around the apartment, singing softly as his gaze moved through the pictures they had taken with Jongdae’s camera, framed and displayed around the space. 

There was one of all of them over at Minseok’s café. 

Another of just the two of them at the park. 

Baekhyun with Mongryong when he had just gotten him. 

Jongdae at the flower shop. 

And a whole lot more. 

His eyes danced over those pictures and he recalled the memory behind each. 

Sure, writing about it was a good way to keep memories and stories alive but pictures were a different story that even sometimes, if taken at the right time, felt alive.

His eyes moved to the flowers he had brought home, lying on the table.

Dahlias.

He had decided to get them, both because he thought they looked really pretty and because they meant ‘Forever thine’. 

And he’d long ago admitted to Jongdae that he loved him. 

Words couldn’t even describe how happy Baekhyun was when Jongdae had said it back. In fact, Baekhyun had been so happy he had gone to visit Jongdae in the library with a hundred roses.

“What would I do with a hundred roses?” Jongdae asked, laughing. 

“Give me a hundred kisses in exchange?” Baekhyun had suggested. 

Jongdae had laughed at that and had given him the first three out of a hundred kisses there in the library. 

Then Baekhyun noticed the hearing aids on the coffee table near them, well, only one hearing aid. 

Baekhyun sighed and shook his head as he realized. 

He flicked Jongdae on the forehead. 

“The doctor told you to rest your ears,” Baekhyun chided as Jongdae opened his eyes that were sparkling with mischief, smiles spreading across their faces. 

“I like hearing you sing,” Jongdae whined. “I don’t get to very often.”

“Take it off,” Baekhyun said, opening his palm to make Jongdae hand it over. 

Jongdae pouted and Baekhyun mirrored him as Jongdae took it off and handed it over. 

Baekhyun leaned over and placed it carefully beside its pair on the coffee table before leaning back and looking at Jongdae who was glaring playfully at him. 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. 

I’ll sing for you later, Baekhyun said through sign language. 

Jongdae beamed at him for the promise and the use of sign language. 

Promise? Jongdae asked, sitting up a bit and pulling Baekhyun closer. 

Baekhyun grinned before pressing his lips unto Jongdae’s softly. 

Promise.


End file.
